The University of Toledo Honors Program and the UT department of economics have named the first Edward Shapiro Honors Fellows in Economics.
The six 2008-2009 award recipients are Anthony Bradfield, Noah Gillespie, Nicholas Jones, Constantine Konstandas, Anthony Russo and Jason Saunders.
The students were honored at a luncheon in December.
The Edward Shapiro Honors Scholarship in Economics is a $5,000 renewable award offered by The University of Toledo Honors Program and the department of economics. The award is a new scholarship program funded through an endowment held by the UT Foundation, established by the late Dr. Edward Shapiro.
Current honors students (or high school students who have been accepted into UT’s Honors Program) who plan to major in economics can compete for the scholarship.
Selected students must maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.6, conduct undergraduate research in the field of economics under the guidance of a faculty mentor from the UT department of economics, and complete their honors thesis in an area of economics.
The expectation is that they will share their excitement and interest in the study of economics.
“One of the goals of these scholarships is to raise the awareness of the discipline among our most talented direct-from-high-school students,” said Dr. Tom Barden, director of the UT Honors Program and professor of English. “Many students arrive at the University not thinking of this major because there are so few high school courses in economics.”
Dr. Shapiro (A/S ‘42), a UT economics professor for 22 years, donated more than $4 million to UT’s College of Arts and Sciences, including a final estate gift totaling more than $3.2 million.
His contributions were targeted for a lecture series, scholarships, student research and other student needs in the departments of English and economics.
Generosity was a lifelong trait of Dr. Shapiro, who died in 2005 at the age of 84. “He donated not only to UT but to other universities as well over the years, sums that were impressive, if not staggering,” noted his nephew, Dr. Benjamin Wendell.
However, UT had a special place in Dr. Shapiro’s heart. “He spent the best and most productive years of his life there,” Dr. Wendell said, “teaching generations of students, mentoring, guiding and garnering a level of respect from the students and the faculty that he found in few other places.”