With contributions from the Bender family, friends, associates and former
students, and with state matching money, the endowment has already reached
$150,000.FSU Foundation
Scholarships honor retired education professor
The Louis W. Bender Endowed Scholarship Fund, created to honor Bender and his lifelong commitment to education, has been established by his FSU College of Education family.
With contributions from the Bender family, friends, associates and former
students, and with state matching money, the endowment has already reached
$150,000.
"The most important thing is to help students," said Bender, who retired from the College of Education's Department of Educational Leadership in 1991. "The idea behind this scholarship fund is to help provide an education for students who couldn't otherwise get it, and to attract the best students to the FSU College of Education."
An unusual component of the scholarship requires the recipient to help raise money for the College of Education.
"This scholarship fund is unique by its very nature, funded by educators and students, and perpetuated by those it benefits," said Jack Miller, dean of the College of Education.
The fund will pay for assistantships for graduate students who have distinguished themselves.
"It gives us the opportunity to recruit new doctoral students from community college transfers, and that is something we have been unable to do under the existing funding scheme," said Hallie Thomas, chairman of the Department of Educational Leadership. "Graduate assistant money is scarce, and if we know we can count on a particular assistantship, it enables us to identify and recruit the best candidates."
Bender's career in education spanned 40 years, 21 as professor of higher education at Florida State. Among his legacy are 101 doctoral graduates for whom he served as major advisor and numerous books, articles and monographs.
Harris Corp. is contributing $600,000, which will grow to $1,020,000 when state matching money is added, to support research and scholarships at FSU. The gift is part of Florida State's $200-million capital campaign, An Investment in Learning.
The Harris grant and state matching money will establish the Harris Corp. Scholars' Endowment, which will provide a yearly income on a continual basis for two programs. One, the Harris Young Scholars, will be an intensive six-week residential program for college-bound students throughout Florida who have significant potential for careers in science and math. The other, Harris Interns and Faculty Associates, will select participants on merit to apply their research in real-life situations in such areas as meteorology, computer science and engineering.
"Math and science play a critical role in developing the new ideas and technologies that will lead our society into the next century," said Phillip W. Farmer, chairman and chief executive officer of Harris Corp. "We are pleased to make this contribution to FSU, which is one of Florida's top universities and an important resource to Harris for the science, mathematics and critical thinking skills it cultivates in its students. Graduates from FSU have become welcome additions to our work force for many years,"
FSU alumni at Harris in senior positions include Al Dukes, vice president and general manager, Information Systems Division; Russ Mercom, vice president and general manager, Semiconductor Products Division; and Steve Sockbeson, director of human resources.
The Melbourne-based Harris Corp., with worldwide sales of more than $3.4 billion, is focused on four major areas of business: electronic systems, semiconductors, communications, and Lanier Worldwide office equipment.