Alumni group awards minority scholarships

Alumni
group awards minority scholarships
…………………………………………………………………

BY DAVID D.
MEDINA
Special to the Rice News

A Rice University
alumni organization has awarded its first group of $10,000
scholarships to 12 minority students who will be entering
Rice next year as freshmen.

Recruitment
into Collegiate Education Through Minority Scholarships
Fund (RICE-TMS) is a nonprofit organization that is not
associated with Rice University. The group was started about
a year ago with the intention of recruiting the best minority
students to Rice by offering them merit scholarships.

Initially, the
RICE-TMS board planned to give five scholarships, but the
fund raising was so successful, collecting more than $400,000,
that the group decided to increase the number of awards.
About 200 members of the Rice community contributed to the
fund, along with foundations, corporations, businesses and
individuals.

“I feel
we had a very good first year for a program that just started,”
said Carl MacDowell, president of RICE-TMS and former assistant
to President Malcolm Gillis. “This program is making
a significant impact in attracting very high quality minority
students to Rice.”

Ann Wright,
vice president for enrollment, was delighted with the group’s
achievement. “It’s clear,” she said, “that
this success is based on three aspects of the award: the
scholarship dollars that help with college costs, the honor
of winning in this competitive process and the personal
attention and support of the Rice alumni who serve on this
board.”

RICE-TMS board
member Sofia Adrogue ’88 added: “We believe RICE-TMS
serves as a powerful conduit for the recruitment of exceptional
candidates, who happen to be Hispanic or African-American,
at the beginning of Rice’s second century. The momentum
for the successful recruitment of developing minority leaders
is here. RICE-TMS can help the university to seize the opportunity.”

The scholarships
are awarded regardless of financial need, and unless limited
by federal guidelines, they do not replace any financial
aid that a recipient receives from Rice or other sources.
They are given to students who have been accepted to Rice
and have demonstrated leadership potential. The stipends
will be awarded over a four-year period in annual $2,500
installments, but recipients must maintain a 2.80 grade
point average to retain the scholarship.

Of 193 students
who applied for the scholarship from 25 states, 28 were
offered the award, with 12 accepting the scholarship as
of publication time. Those who turned down the offer decided
to attend other universities. A group of Rice faculty, RICE-TMS
board members and donor representatives selected the winners.
The goal of the organization is to double the number of
scholarship acceptances next year.

In addition
to the scholarship, each of the winners will be assigned
a faculty mentor for the entire four years at Rice. History
professor Ed Cox will be coordinating the mentoring program.

— David
Medina is a senior editor of the Sallyport and the minority
community affairs director.