Medal of Distinction awarded, scholarship created

David Hollowell, UD’s executive vice president and treasurer for 20 years, was awarded the University’s Medal of Distinction at a farewell reception marking his retirement in December.

“For 20 years you have served this University and its people with unerring responsibility, creativity, intelligence, loyalty and generosity,” said Howard E. Cosgrove, chairman of the Board of Trustees, in presenting the medal.

Among Hollowell’s many achievements, Cosgrove cited the supervising of more than $900 million in campus renovations and new construction and his collaboration with former UD President David Roselle in upgrading faculty and staff salaries, enhancing financial aid, improving facilities and maintaining 20 years of balanced budgets. Construction projects during his tenure included the Bob Carpenter Center, the Trabant University Center, Gore Hall, Laird Campus residence halls, the Student Services Center and the Roselle Center for the Arts.

Cosgrove said Hollowell also helped bring more women into top management positions and that he and his wife, Kathleen, have given financial support to UD athletics, the Library and campus beautification projects. They’ve endowed a professorship in the Department of Mathematical Sciences and have been “fervent believers in and boosters of the Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Management [HRIM] program,” he said.

The road that encircles the Laird campus, called Pencader Way, has been renamed David Hollowell Drive, and a Washington elm tree has been planted on The Green in front of Gore Hall in Hollowell’s honor.

In addition, the Shaner Hotel Group has established a $100,000 endowed scholarship in HRIM to recognize Hollowell’s work in bringing the Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware teaching hotel to campus.

Although the parameters of the new scholarship have yet to be established, it is slated to be awarded to one deserving student in the HRIM program each year at a likely amount of $5,000, according to Robert Nelson, chairperson of HRIM.

“Shaner Hotels’ generous endowment is a fitting tribute to David Hollowell’s efforts to bring a teaching hotel to our campus,” Nelson says. “Our Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware hotel, which is managed by Shaner Hotels, is unique. I do not know of any hotel that integrates hospitality students into its operation as comprehensively as we do at this property. The hotel provides a terrific amenity to the campus community and has enabled the Clayton Hall conference center to reach its potential.”