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Technology Group Funds Scholarship at UTSA John Dickson, chair of the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative and director of international business for SecureLogix organized the first of what have come to be known as "High-Tech Happy Hours" last spring. The events, now held quarterly, provide a social forum for San Antonio business professionals from many diverse fields who have a shared interest in technology and its evolution and applications in business. "The original intent of the happy hour was to put techies, investors and services providers together to collaborate and, hopefully, to build technology companies based on this networking opportunity," said Dickson. "But the event got so big--averaging 300 people- -that we felt we had to give it a real name," he added. "We now call it the SA TeK NetworX and recognize that it has become a larger celebration of the technology community as a whole. "Raising money for scholarships is our way of helping others in town who aspire to technology careers and who hope to stay in the San Antonio area." While corporate sponsors cover the cost of food and facility rentals, guests purchase their own beverages and pay a cover charge, which goes to fund scholarships for UTSA students who are majoring in technology-related fields. The group established the SA TeK NetworX Scholarship Fund with a $2,000 gift in September 2000. A second $2,500 donation was presented to President Ricardo Romo last month. In accepting the scholarship donations, Romo said, "We are very grateful to friends in the community like SA TeK NetworX who step forward to extend a helping hand to UTSA students, and UTSA looks forward to a long and productive relationship with the SA TeK NetworX as we work together to grow the technology community in San Antonio." The first two donations are being used to establish annual scholarships for information systems majors in the College of Business. One scholarship includes a mentoring component through which recipients will volunteer time to assist other UTSA students with technology-based projects. The Advanced Projects Lab in the College of Business will provide an initial focus for this mentoring which will cover everything from e-commerce to database administration. The idea is to motivate more students to embrace technology as a life-long learning tool. Send
your comments and items to: UTSAToday@utsa.edu.
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What
happens when "techies" socialize? In San Antonio, they raise
money to benefit UTSA student scholarships!