The C.T. Bauer College of Business celebrated a $1 million gift received to bolster recruiting scholarships through the Bauer Excellence Initiative, a campaign aimed at attracting high-quality applicants to the college’s programs.
Friday’s event in Melcher Hall started with the unveiling of the donors’ names, Dawn and Richard Rawson, who now have Auditorium 160 named after them.
Richard Rawson, a UH alumnus, graduated in 1972 from the College of Business Administration, now known as Bauer. Rawson is the president of Insperity, a business advisor company, and helped fund the College of Education and the College of Business.
“(Rawsons’) commitment and involvement will touch the lives of students now and students to come because it’s an endowment,” said Dean of Bauer Latha Ramchand. “Nobody can touch this money.”
Paula Short, interim senior vice president for Academic Affairs and provost, said statistical information from fall 2011 shows a high number of business students at the University of Arkansas are from Texas, and a high number of business students at the University of Texas San Antonio are from Harris County.
“What they’ve done is they’ve created robust scholarship programs,” Short said. “Our goal is to give back to the community. One of the ways is through financial support through scholarship opportunities.”
Dawn Rawson said they got where they are today through faith, hard work and perseverance and that now they are concerned with helping others prosper.
Dawn and Richard Rawson have set a goal to make Bauer the best business school in the country. | Courtesy of Jessica Navarro
“Education is the best root that produces the best fruits in the community,” she said.
Richard Rawson said his life is divided into two parts: before his degree and after his degree.
“My commitment to the school goes back to when I was here,” Rawson said. “It gave me the platform of knowledge I never had before, and it taught me how to think. What this school gives is the encouragement and other subtle skill sets so that you can be the best you can be.”
Rawson said any institution is only as good as its students, which is why he believes and invests in BEI as a means of attracting quality students to the school.
“No business, no matter what it is, is successful without quality people,” Rawson said. “My goal is to make this business school number one in the country.”
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