S.A. Hispanic Chamber, UTSA Alumni Association create scholarships for Hispanics

UTSA students work with minirobots in a computer laboratory

By Tim Brownlee
Associate Director of Internal Communications

(Oct. 27, 2014) -- The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the UTSA Alumni Association have established the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce STEM Scholarship to attract Hispanic students to the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, which will further foster UTSA's advancement to Tier One research status.

The groups contributed $25,000 each to create a pool of $50,000 for the new scholarship. Annual awards of $2,500 per student will be presented in the fall of each year as funding allows. A UTSA Alumni Association committee will select scholarship recipients.

"The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is proud to contribute $25,000 towards UTSA scholarships to ensure that more Hispanic students can pursue their studies in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics," said Ramiro Cavazos, president and CEO of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. "Our chamber has always had a commitment to STEM education and also hosts the largest annual STEM conference in San Antonio, coming up Nov. 15-22. Together, we are impacting the future of the San Antonio workforce, one student at a time."

"The Association is so pleased to partner with the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on this important scholarship program for the STEM areas," said Laura Murray, executive director of the UTSA Alumni Association. "We need more Hispanic students in STEM areas of study, and I believe this will help us attract the brightest students who otherwise may not be able to afford a top-tier education. Great scholarships help UTSA recruit great students."

To receive a scholarship, a student must be a full-time undergraduate in one of the STEM majors and have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA on a scale of 4.0. An exception to the full-time requirement is that a student may be part-time only in his or her last semester before graduation and must be enrolled in at least six credit hours.

Awards are need-based and will be given to Hispanic students, with half going to females. First preference will be given to students who have participated in the Prefreshman Engineering Program (PREP).

The San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is San Antonio's leading resource and advocate for Hispanic businesses and Hispanics in business, and provides premiere access to the Hispanic market. A strong advocate for Hispanic businesses and Hispanics in business for 85 years, it is the first Hispanic Chamber in the United States designated a 5-Star Accredited Chamber by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The SAHCC ranks in the top 1 percent of the 7,700 chambers of commerce in the United States.

The UTSA Alumni Association is a thriving membership organization of former students, graduates and friends of UTSA. The association serves more than 100,000 graduates and thousands of others around the world by providing meaningful connections with each other, current students and the university. The association invests in programs that enable accessibility to higher education and support to local community educational and philanthropic initiatives, while providing more than $150,000 annually in scholarships to UTSA students.

------------------------------

For more information or to apply for the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce STEM Scholarship, contact Ann Tomlinson, UTSA Alumni Association scholarship coordinator, at 210-458-4133. Applications for 2015-2016 will be available in January 2015.

Connect online with UTSA on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.