Money from prestigious grant to pay for business scholarships starting in 2005

The Eller College of Business and Public Administration has been awarded an $8.2 million grant, the largest scholarship gift ever given to UA.

The University of Arizona was one of three universities in the country to be awarded the grant from the Texas-based Mitte Foundation.

With a combination of undesignated gifts and partnerships, the Eller College will match the Mitte gift over the next 20 years. This means $16.4 million in scholarship money will be available for business students, said James Moore, director of advancement for Eller College.

Starting in fall 2005, $5,000 scholarships will be awarded to 60 undergraduate and 15 graduate business students every year for the following two decades. The awards will be based on academic achievement, community service and leadership skills.

"The Mitte grant supports characteristics we're trying to promote in the business college," said Mark Zupan, Eller College dean.

In 2005, UA will become the seventh Mitte school, bringing the Mitte Foundation up to a total of 760 Mitte scholars.

UA Mitte scholars will be able to interact with other Mitte students across the country using TeleSuite videoconferencing, a state-of-the-art conference room that allows face-to-face meetings from thousands of miles away.

In the future, this technology will enable students to hear and see guest lectures at other Mitte universities, Moore said.

The foundation's goal is to seek well-rounded, high achievers who are involved in the community, said Scott Mitte, executive director of the Mitte Foundation.

"This scholarship program will help recruit a better-quality student," Mitte said. "It will make Eller College a fantastic business college in the future."

UA plans to hold a competition for Mitte schools where students can study business-related cases and present their results in order to address critical issues in business education, Moore said.

UA will partner with the Mitte Foundation and charities like Habitat for Humanity to promote community involvement, according to a Mitte Foundation press release.

"This award shows that there's still good things going on in the state university system," Moore said. "UA can take pride that they were selected as a Mitte school."

The Eller College, as well as the Red McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin and the Kelley School of Business at Indiana, received the Mitte gift after representatives from their business colleges presented their interest in the scholarship money in Austin, Texas last November, Moore said.

"This puts us in good company," Moore said.

The Eller College won the grant over business schools from other universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, New York University and Michigan State University.