July 09, 2008

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UTSA President's Scholarship and Awards Dinner raises $1.4 million

(Oct. 7, 2004)--Saddles, eagles and stars were part of the decor last night at The University of Texas at San Antonio's 2004 President's Scholarship and Awards Dinner at the Marriott Rivercenter Hotel, an event that celebrated two heroes of the university and raised a record $1.4 million for UTSA scholarships and other academic programs.

The dinner, attended by 800 guests, recognized Dolph Briscoe, 41st governor of Texas, for his leadership and commitment to UTSA and USAA and The USAA Foundation, A Charitable Trust for extraordinary partnerships with UTSA over the past 35 years.

Pictured from left are (top photo) UTSA President Ricardo Romo, Dr. Harriett Romo, former Governor Dolph Briscoe and his daughter, Janey Briscoe Marmion. In the center photo, Barbara Gentry, USAA, receives the UTSA Gold Star Award from Tom Frost, local businessman and UTSA supporter. In the lower photo, Briscoe greets UT System Chancellor Mark Yudof (right).

Briscoe, who served in the Texas Legislature from 1949 to 1957 and as governor from 1973 to 1979, received the 2004 Tom C. Frost Award, a recognition given annually by UTSA to an outstanding citizen who has provided exceptional leadership to important business and community endeavors.

"We are here tonight to honor a great Texan who has demonstrated tireless leadership in support of education at all levels in the state," said UTSA President Ricardo Romo. "Governor Briscoe understands the value of education to the future of our state and our country, especially in the knowledge-based economy of this century. In the early 1990s, Governor Briscoe and his wife, Janey, co-chaired a special bioscience initiative that helped lay the foundation for UTSA's current move toward tier one research university status."

UTSA presented Briscoe with a custom made, hand-tooled black leather working saddle, embellished with the governor's seal and personalized with an open "6," the Briscoe family ranch brand. The color black was chosen because Briscoe does not have a black working saddle of his own. The black saddle he currently uses belonged to his father.

The Briscoe family surprised university officials with a gift of their own. Briscoe announced a $500,000 donation to UTSA in memory of Janey Slaughter Briscoe, his late wife.

The Briscoe's gift will complement the existing Dolph and Janey Briscoe Distinguished Professorship in Engineering, a position currently held by Mehdi Shadaram, chair of the department of electrical engineering in the College of Engineering.

USAA and the USAA Foundation, A Charitable Trust received the inaugural UTSA Gold Star Award, a recognition that will be presented annually to a company or organization that has forged extensive partnerships with the university and has supported UTSA students and faculty in extraordinary ways.

Romo presented Barbara Gentry, president of the USAA Foundation, A Charitable Trust and senior vice president of USAA community affairs, with a framed original watercolor of an American bald eagle created by San Antonio artist Armando Sanchez and an eight-inch crystal star, designed by Tiffany & Co. and etched with the UTSA seal.

"USAA and The USAA Foundation, A Charitable Trust have been exceptionally generous to the university and provided almost $4 million to various UTSA scholarships and programs," said Romo. "They have done much to support educational and community outreach programs at UTSA and their partnership is crucial to UTSA's mission of providing access to quality higher education."

The fund-raising gala was hosted by UTSA President Ricardo Romo and Dr. Harriett Romo and co-chaired by John T. Montford, SBC senior vice president for state legislative and regulatory affairs, and Jack Guenther, V.H. McNutt Memorial Foundation chairman.

Also honored during the evening were the university's donor societies, the President's Associates, the Sombrilla Society and the Lone Star Society, as well as individual donors from the past year.

In addition to the Briscoe gift of $500,000, a $200,000 anonymous gift to support the Peter T. Flawn Presidential Honors Endowed Scholarship and $100,000 gifts from the SBC Foundation, the V.H. McNutt Memorial Foundation Inc., The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation and from UTSA alumnus Ernest Bromley and his wife, Aimee Bromley, were included in the record $1.4 million raised at the evening's event.

--Marianne McBride Lewis