Wednesday, February 20, 2008

TWU announces Patsy and Fred Patterson and Denton LULAC Council #4366 as 2008 Founders’ Award recipients

By Pegasus News wire

DENTON — Patsy and Fred Patterson of Denton and the Denton LULAC Council #4366 will be honored for exceptional service to the community and to Texas Woman’s University at the 2008 TWU Founders’ Awards recipients.

The awards will be presented at the annual TWU Founders’ Day Award Scholarship Luncheon to be held at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 3 in Hubbard Hall on TWU’s Denton campus.

Tickets for the event are $30 per person. Patron seats are available for $75. Benefactor tables for eight are available for $600. For information on sponsorship opportunities, contact Patrice Benfield Frisby at (940) 898-3867. Invitations to the event will be mailed in early March, and reservations are required by Friday, March 28.

The university is fortunate to have partners such as the Pattersons and Denton LULAC join us in our mission of educating the state’s future leaders, TWU Chancellor Ann Stuart said.

Proceeds from the luncheon benefit the TWU Chancellor’s Endowed Scholarships, which are the most prestigious scholarships awarded by the university. Established by Chancellor Stuart and other donors in 2000, these scholarships are the largest awarded by TWU, and the only academic scholarships that offer a stipend to recipients in addition to paying tuition and fees. They are awarded to TWU students on the basis of outstanding academic achievement, leadership and service in school and community activities.

Shirley Cothran Barret, Ph.D., Miss America 1975 and a TWU alumna, will be the keynote speaker at the luncheon. A Denton native, Dr. Barret has more than 20 years of motivational speaking experience to civic groups, national corporations, educational organizations, churches, conventions and other groups.

With a more than 50-year history of community activism in Denton, Patsy and Fred Patterson have established themselves as committed leaders in promoting the city, its events and organizations, and its universities.

"It is completely humbling and unexpected to be honored with this award,” Mrs. Patterson said. “We help TWU because we are committed to helping education and Denton, and TWU is very important to both.”

The Pattersons have been ardent supporters of TWU, contributing to university athletics, the construction of the new Redbud Theater Complex and, most recently, the TWU Redbud Revitalization Campaign.

Mrs. Patterson, whose family once lived on Locust Street across from TWU, remembered when the university was covered with redbud trees. Mr. Patterson spoke about the redbuds to Chancellor Stuart at dinner one evening, which led to the campaign to bring more of the trees back to campus. To date, TWU has raised $54,500 to add 438 redbud trees to the Denton campus over the next two years. The first 225 trees were planted at TWU in fall 2007.

The Pattersons have had leadership roles with several Denton community organizations, including the Denton Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Denton Arts Council, the Denton Community Theatre, the Campus Theater renovation, the Denton Benefit League, the United Way of Denton County, the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival, the Denton Public School Foundation, the University of North Texas and St. Andrew Presbyterian Church.

Patsy and Fred Patterson

Mr. Patterson is publisher emeritus of the Denton Record-Chronicle.

The Denton LULAC Council #4366 was established in 1981 under the leadership of charter president Frank Davila and 10 other Denton community leaders. Today members serve on a number of Denton boards and committees including the Cinco de Mayo, Cena en el Barrio and Fiesta on the Square celebrations and the Denton Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

For more than five years, the Denton LULAC Council #4366 has partnered with TWU to award scholarships to deserving Hispanic students. Since 2002, the organization has awarded scholarships to 13 Hispanic students at TWU.

The Denton LULAC Council sees the education of Hispanic youth as vital to our future, said Dorothy Martinez, president of the Denton LULAC Council #4366. We remain committed to work with TWU to promote higher education among Hispanic students.

TWU’s Hispanic enrollment is 14 percent, one of the highest percentages in Texas.

The first Founders’ Awards were presented in 1998 to honor organizations and individuals who have supported TWU. TWU celebrates Founders’ Day to commemorate the date the university was established by the state of Texas, April 6, 1901. TWU, the TWU Foundation and the TWU former Students Association host the annual TWU Founders’ Day Award Scholarship Luncheon.

Source: Texas Woman's University

See more stories in:

• Colleges & Universities > Texas Woman's University