UT Tyler Office of Marketing and Communications

Texas Retailers Education Foundation Endows Scholarship at UT Tyler

September 18, 2019

Media Contact: Beverley Golden
Senior Director of Media Relations
Marketing and Communications
The University of Texas at Tyler
903.566.7303

The University of Texas at Tyler announced today that the Texas Retailers Education Foundation has made a $25,000 gift to endow a scholarship in the Soules College of Business.

"Education is truly the engine for social mobility, and for our region of Texas, which has low educational attainment, this scholarship is that engine for our students," said Dr. Colleen Swain, UT Tyler associate provost for undergraduate and online education. "Texas Retailers Education Foundation is making an investment in East Texas through our amazing students."

East Texas has the lowest percentage of people age 25 or older who have a bachelor's degree or higher. UT Tyler has collaborated with TREF on several initiatives that can help improve of the well-being of the region.

"It takes everyone working together to make sure that our students get a remarkable and transformative educational experience," Dr. Robert Beatty, UT Tyler Soules College of Business dean said. "These scholarship funds will benefit so many of our students who will in turn help improve the retail fabric of East Texas."

To qualify for the TREF scholarship, a student must have attended high school in Texas and have a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Preference shall be given to students who are planning to pursue a career in the retail profession, have previously worked in the retail profession or have parents who currently work in retail.

"TREF believes in supporting higher education, and we have a long-standing partnership in which they have supported different retail initiatives at the University. We are extremely grateful to them for this scholarship and what it will mean to our students," Dr. Kerri Camp, Soules College of Business associate professor of marketing, said.

"Our hope is that this scholarship gives students the opportunity to consider a career in the retail industry, and that it helps open up career paths for them long term," said Joe Williams of TREF. "These are the next retail industry leaders, so it benefits everyone to help produce adequately skilled and educated UT Tyler graduates."

For more information, contact Camp at kcamp@uttyler.edu.

A member of the prestigious UT System, The University of Texas at Tyler focuses on student success and innovative research in the more than 80 undergraduate and graduate degree programs offered to nearly 10,000 students. Classified by Carnegie as doctoral research institution and by U.S. News and World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.