News Room > SMPS Houston Establishes Scholarship
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Cynthia Foteh, 713.622.0120
cf1@iahouston.com
SMPS HOUSTON ESTABLISHES SCHOLARSHIP
TO ENCOURAGE MORE INTO MARKETING PROFESSION
HOUSTON, TEXAS — The Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) Houston chapter announced today it established a new endowed scholarship at the University of Houston.
The scholarship will be administered through the Bauer School of Business at the university and will be awarded annually to a student enrolled in the Bauer College Undergraduate Business Program. The recipient of the first scholarship will be announced prior to the fall 2008 semester.
SMPS Houston established the scholarship to reinforce its mission as the preeminent educational resource for marketers within the architecture, engineering and construction industries. The chapter is also dedicated to community stewardship through charitable contributions and scholarships.
"As an organization, we´ve been discussing the need to reach out to marketing students for several years," Doug Parker, Senior Board Advisor for SMPS Houston said. "This scholarship provides SMPS an avenue to reach students and provide information and education about our specialized niche of marketing for the built environment. We hope these students will consider professional services marketing as a career," Parker added.
Like many industries, the employment pool for the design and construction fields is shrinking. Further, marketing for design and construction firms suffers low awareness as a potential career path. The mission of SMPS nationally is to advocate for, educate, and connect leaders in the building industry.
SMPS Houston sees the endowed scholarship as a beginning step toward reciprocity between the University of Houston and the SMPS Houston chapter. The bigger picture frames the scholarship as a local recruiting tool.
"This scholarship opens the door of possibility on many levels for our chapter and the university," Parker said. "In the near term we hope to build on our relationship with UH and develop a student SMPS chapter, allowing us to further our goal of education. Longer term I could see an internship program for UH students with our member firms, which is also a benefit for our members."
University of Houston students interested in the SMPS Houston Marketing Scholarship can contact Nancy Clark, Director of Development, at 713-743-8873 or nclark@uh.edu.
About SMPS
The Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) is a professional association of marketing and business development professionals for architecture, engineering, construction and related firms. The association has 53 chapters and 6,100+ members across the United States and Canada.
SMPS Houston is the fifth largest chapter in the United States, with 235 members. Current members represent 170 different firms throughout the Houston and the surrounding areas. SMPS Houston received the Striving for Excellence Grand Prize award at the 2007 National Conference. It is the highest national award SMPS bestows to chapters in recognition of chapter service to members.
Learn more at www.smps.org and www.smpshouston.com.
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