Vocational education and the technology it uses are honored in a series of new scholarships that will be offered at the University of Delaware beginning in the year 2000.
The IranLawrence.Com Scholarship fund has been established by Iran Lawrence, an internationally known fiber artist, interior designer and entrepreneur, especially for students who complete their high school education at vocational-technical schools. Lawrence will commit at least $100,000 in support of these scholarships over the next five years.
Ten scholarships of $1,000 each will be awarded nationwide each academic year. The scholarship awards will be made to newly accepted full-time, first-year degree students who have demonstrated evidence of high academic achievement, a clear statement of purpose regarding their college career, productive extracurricular school and community activities and financial need.
The annual awards are renewable for up to five years, provided that the student continues to enroll at UD on a full-time basis, remains in good academic standing and demonstrates financial need.
"Increasing scholarship support is one of our top institutional priorities, and this new initiative provides a wonderful opportunity to students from vocational-technical high schools," University President David P. Roselle says.
Over a period of five years, beginning with the year 2000, the available new scholarship funds, totaling at least $100,000, will be given. These funds will be divided equally into an annually awarded scholarships and the establishment of a scholarship endowment account. Beginning in the academic year 2005-06, scholarship endowment earnings will be awarded annually to support the IranLawrence.Com Scholarships in perpetuity.
Funding for the scholarships will be provided through gifts to the University of Delaware from the Iran Lawrence Foundation, a private, educational foundation that receives 10 percent of IranLawrence.Com annual proceeds to support and promote excellence in education.
Special consideration for the scholarships will be given to students in the visual communication, video technology and printing technology divisions of the Academy of Communications and Publishing career programs at Delcastle Technical High School in New Castle County, Del. Lawrence's son, Daren, is enrolled in the program and is his mother's source of inspiration in establishing the scholarships.
"Daren is a very balanced, successful and centered young man," Lawrence says. "He is a distinguished honor roll student majoring in visual communication and will be attending the University of Delaware majoring in visual communication and computer and information science.
"The IranLawrence.Com scholarships for vo-tech high school students around the country are a public celebration of my own son's success, which I hope will spread like wildfire around the country for all parents and students to savor," she says.
"My personal research and experience have made me realize and understand the importance of vocational education early in a child's education," Lawrence says, adding that by establishing the scholarships, she hopes to combat the image that vocational-technical schools are not for college-bound students and that they are "only trade schools."
Dennis L. Loftus, superintendent of the New Castle County Vocational Technical School District, says, "A basic tenet of vocational-technical instruction is the importance of continuing education, so we are indeed pleased that Ms. Lawrence has chosen to designate scholarships for deserving vo-tech students."
As a fiber artist, Lawrence is known for her unique hand-dyed contemporary quilts, which are exhibited worldwide at major museums and in private collections. Her work can be seen in the Algemene Bank of The Netherlands in New York, in the White House and in corporate offices of Sears, Roebuck & Co., and DuPont Pharmaceutical, among others.
She is the president of her own interior design art firm, Iran Lawrence & Co. She hold a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Delaware, a master's degree in interior design from Drexel University and a master of fine art in fiber and textile design from Temple University's Tyler School of Art. She is a recipient of the University of Delaware's Presidential Citation for Outstanding Achievement.
Daren, an expert at computers, is a worldwide traveler, ice hockey player, accomplished skier, equestrian and scuba diver.
For more information on the scholarships, visit the Iran Lawrence Foundation's web site at <www.IranLawrenceFoundation.com>.
-Beth Thomas