FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, March 1, 2007
Contact: Lisa Shover, 480-563-2430/ cell 602-315-3151
NINA MASON PULLIAM CHARITABLE TRUST
COMMITS $7.8 MILLION TO SCHOLARSHIP
PROGRAM FOR “OVERLOOKED” STUDENTS
Applications Now Available, April 1 Deadline
(Phoenix)—The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust is committing $7.8 million over the next four years to fund college scholarships for students in Arizona and Indiana whom traditional scholarship programs typically overlook.
“This commitment of $7.8 million will provide scholarships to 168 more men and women over the next four years,” said Frank E. Russell, chairman of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. “The Nina Scholars have faced incredible challenges in their lives and many of the Scholars we have met since the program began in 2001 have told us that without the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program they would not have realized the dream of a college education,” Russell added.
The program extension includes full tuition, an annual $2,750 living allowance for each Scholar, books, and class fees. It also covers the program’s administrative cost and funding a full-time Nina Scholar coordinator at each school who provides counseling and assistance to the scholars.
The Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust began making grants to Arizona nonprofits in 1998 and has distributed more than $62 million to 303 Arizona nonprofit organizations. “The Scholars program is a living legacy to Nina who believed that with an education, there was nothing an individual could not achieve,” said Pulliam’s niece and Trustee Carol Peden Schilling.
“Nina Mason Pulliam was an advocate for education her entire life. She funded scholarships for employees’ children and for children whom she learned were in need of assistance, the Nina Scholars program is a natural extension of the Trust’s mission of helping people in need,” said Schilling. “Nina had empathy for individuals who were dealt challenges in life.”
(Add One, Trust Commits $7.8 Million to Nina Scholars)
“Nina would have been so pleased about the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program because it provides people with the means for self-sufficiency through education. This was one of Nina’s fundamental beliefs,” Trustee Nancy M. Russell explained. “The Nina Scholars program is a resounding success and fills a previously unmet need. It is the first program in the country to identify and specifically serve a population who traditional college scholarships typically bypass.”
Nina Scholars are 25 years or older with dependents, college-age students and adults with physical disabilities, or college-age youth who were raised in the foster-care system and are self-supporting.
The Trust launched the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program with Arizona State University and Maricopa Community Colleges six years ago. Since that time, the Scholars program has touched the lives of more than 100 women and men in Arizona. The program is offered in Indianapolis, where the Trust also makes grants.
“Nina Scholars is a program that is there to help. It is not a program that wants to cut students who are having a difficult time, but will find resources and be supportive when times are tough,” according to Nina Scholar Nichole Townsend who graduated from ASU with a 3.98 grade point average and is now working at Mayo Clinic Hospital as an emergency room nurse. “Our Nina Scholars coordinator was like having a social worker to help us navigate our way. It made a true difference.”
“The individuals the Nina Scholars program seeks to help face incredible barriers to obtaining higher education. With the Trust minimizing the economic barriers and ASU and Maricopa Community Colleges providing special outreach and support to each Nina Scholar, together we believe we have a strong chance for success,” said Trust president and CEO Harriet Ivey.
“With the creation of the Nina Scholars ‘Passport Program,’ some of our Nina Scholars who begin their studies at Maricopa Community Colleges in Phoenix or Ivy Tech Community College in Indianapolis have opportunities to move to ASU or IUPUI, respectively, and earn their bachelor’s degrees,” explained Ivey.
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(Add Two, Trust Commits $7.8 Million to Nina Scholars)
“Arizona State University is deeply honored to be entrusted with the stewardship of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust Scholars program. To educate any student is a grave responsibility, but to join in the education of students whom life has dealt such trials is so much the greater privilege,” said Debra Friedman, Ph.D., Dean, ASU College of Public Programs.
Applications for the fall 2007 semester are now available for the Nina Scholars program at Arizona State University and Maricopa Community Colleges. Each year the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust sponsors eight new students at ASU and 15 new students at Maricopa Community Colleges who are earning their first undergraduate degree.
The application deadline is April 1, 2007. For further information about applying to the Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program contact: Cory Gonzales, , 480-727-6561, at ASU, or Susan Taffer, , 480-731-8619, at Maricopa Community Colleges.
“As the Nina Scholars are successful, their stories of achievement will inspire other students and family members to seek higher education. We already have seen this happen within a number of our Scholar families; sisters, brothers and mothers have returned to classes due to a Nina Scholar in the family,” said Cory Gonzales, Nina Scholars director at ASU.
“We so appreciate the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust’s commitment to establishing a long-term scholarship program that provides these students the key ingredients they need to succeed. With financial obstacles removed and a safety net of guidance and mentoring in place, these students will have the opportunity of a lifetime to prepare for careers and achieve goals they perhaps thought were impossible to achieve,” said Jennifer Steele, MCC Nina Scholars program director.
The Trust also funds a Nina Mason Pulliam Legacy Scholars program in Indiana with Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and Ivy Tech Community College—Central Indiana. For more information about the Trust, visit the web site at www.ninapulliamtrust.org.
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