Beatrice and Donald Sowell donated $10,000 to the College of Business.
The money will create the Bea Sowell President scholarship endowment – Houston Chapter and purchase two iPads for business students in April 2012.
The rest of the funds will be deposited in an account with Prairie View A&M University.
“The principal will be conservatively invested earning interest quarterly. The interest earned will be awarded to an undergraduate business student annually to help pay for his or her tuition and fees,” said assistant Ddan of the College of Business Kimberly Gordon.
The Sowells are actively involved with the university.
“Living in Prairie View for most of our lives; we credit the community and university for helping make us successful,” said Beatrice Sowell.
Donald Sowell, a well-known real estate developer, and his wife Beatrice, a former president of the Houston Chapter of the Links, Inc., decided to donate to the College of Business during a meeting with Munir Quddus, dean of College of Business.
Quddus said, “This is a wonderful way to support the College of Business. Generations of students will benefit from this scholarship in the coming years. Given that Donald Sowell serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board, this also sets a model for others. The great benefit is the matching plan, so that if the gift is of a certain size, there is a dollar for dollar match substantially enhancing the endowment.”
A number of present and past advisory board members have given gifts to set up endowments for student scholarships.
The College of Business will award a scholarship from an endowment once the interest earned has reached $500 or more.
“We want scholarship recipients to be able to purchase books and defray the cost of tuition and fees. We expect to be able to award the first scholarship from the endowment in 2013,” said Gordon.
Prarie View A&M
Tuesday, June 24, 2025