Office of External Communications

Houston, TX 77204-5017 Fax; 713/743-8199

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2004

UH System at Sugar Land
Contact: Eric Gerber
713/743-8189 (office)
281-627-2065 (cellular)

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS, Aug. 20, 2004 – Some 23 scholarships have been awarded to area students who are attending the UH System at Sugar Land teaching center and University of Houston this fall.

The awards were presented at the recent Annual Scholarship Recognition Dinner jointly hosted by the Houston Alumni Organization’s Fort Bend Club and the University of Houston System at Sugar Land. The scholarships are funded by proceeds from the Bill Yeoman Golf Tournament, by the George Foundation and by individual gifts and endowments.

The seven Fort Bend Club Scholars are Stephanie Gregory (UH), Samantha Payne (UH), Bilal Zakaria (UH), Agustina Castillo (UHCL), Olusegun Ariyo (UHV), Mary Jackson (UHV), and Adnan Ulhaque (UHV). The 12 George Foundation scholarship recipients are Neha Bhatia (UHD), Fereshteh Fanian (UHD), Lora Finklea (UHD), Karen Gincoo (UHV), Chantel’ Giuliano (UHD), Amanda Kanak (UHD), Ashley Livingston (UHD), Daisy Rodriguez (UHD), Israel Sanchez (UHD), Jeri Stein (UHD), Cheston Syma (UHD), and Andrew Zinn (UHCL).

The Mike Baldwin Endowed Scholarship went to Gloria Dowiak, a business student at UH-Downtown. Alicia Ziman, a psychology major at UH-Clear Lake, was awarded the Marjorie Akers Hilty Gurasich Endowed Scholarship. Tonichia Williams, a UHCL psychology major, received the newly created Dean and Jenny Hrbacek Scholarship. The recently endowed Michel Miller Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Kimberly Schroeder, an education student at UH-Downtown.

In a special presentation, the Rotary Club of Sugar Land’s President David Shaw presented Sharon Baca, director of UH System at Sugar Land, with a check for $10,000 for 10 additional scholarships for the upcoming academic year and announced the Heritage Plaza project, which will underwrite the flagpoles at the main entrance of the Sugar Land teaching center.

Among those attending the dinner held at the UH System at Sugar Land rotunda were UH System Chancellor and UH President Jay Gogue; Bill Little, chairman of The George Foundation board of trustees, Patty Godfrey, president of HAO’s Fort Bend Club; Betty Baitland, superintendent of the Fort Bend Independent School District; Don Smith, interim president of UHV; Sharon Baca, director of UH System at Sugar Land; Cliff Vacek, 400th District Court judge; and Brady Elliott, 268th District Court judge.

About the University of Houston System at Cinco Ranch and UH System at Sugar Land
The UH System at Cinco Ranch and UH System at Sugar Land are collaborative efforts of the four UH System universities: University of Houston, UH-Clear Lake, UH-Downtown and UH-Victoria. Students apply to the university that offers the degree they are seeking and then take courses at either UH System at Cinco Ranch or UH System at Sugar Land. For more information about the teaching centers visit www.cincoranch.uh.edu and www.sugarland.uh.edu.

For more information about UH visit the university’s ‘Newsroom’ at www.uh.edu/admin/media/newsroom.