For immediate release — June 29, 2009

(DALLAS) – Dallas County Community College District and Southern Methodist University have partnered to provide a unique transfer scholarship opportunity to attend SMU for recipients of the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship, which is awarded each year to deserving DCCCD students who have demonstrated perseverance in the face of adversity. The DCCCD-SMU partnership announcement — and the naming of the scholarship’s first recipient — was one of several highlights during the 10th anniversary celebration of the Kramp scholarship and award reception at The Adolphus Hotel on Saturday, June 27.

The new Erin Tierney Kramp Honors Transfer Scholarship covers full tuition for up to five semesters at SMU, totaling approximately $78,000. Two scholarships will be available each year for deserving Kramp recipients from DCCCD who meet the award criteria. The scholarship is made possible through an agreement between SMU, the DCCCD Foundation and the ETK Encouragement Foundation. The first recipient of the new SMU-DCCCD Kramp transfer scholarship is Dylan Lewis, who received the 2007-2008 DCCCD Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship Award.
 
“The partnership to provide this opportunity for recipients of the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship is another great way to open the door to deserving students in our community,” SMU President R. Gerald Turner said. “We have been impressed with the quality of students from DCCCD who have graduated in our programs; this agreement is simply another tribute to DCCCD students, enabling them to continue their studies at SMU.”

“We are very pleased to partner with SMU through both our foundation and the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation to offer this wonderful opportunity to our students,” said DCCCD Chancellor Wright Lassiter Jr. “This type of partnership speaks volumes about the way in which SMU has truly valued our best and brightest students and how DCCCD values the outstanding opportunities that the university offers to them. This agreement marks another milestone for SMU, DCCCD and our community.”

The Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Scholarship, which is awarded to DCCCD students who have shown perseverance and courage in spite of great adversity in their personal lives, is named in memory of the woman who displayed these same virtues during her life-ending battle with breast cancer. 

Kramp, a venture capitalist in her professional life, passed away in 1998. In spite of her fatal illness, she met the challenges of breast cancer with grace and persistence. Kramp co-authored the book “Living with the End in Mind,” which offers practical steps that people can take to prepare for their death. She also created a personal video for her only child, Peyton, about basic life lessons for the different stages of her daughter’s life. Her inspirational story received widespread publicity and was featured on national television programs such as “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “20/20.”

Before Kramp’s death, her professional peers and friends established the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation in her honor. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the scholarship’s endowment with the DCCCD Foundation.

“The establishment of the transfer scholarship and partnership with SMU on our 10th anniversary acknowledges that our Kramp recipients have the ability to achieve and exceed high academic expectations at SMU and, more importantly, in spite of their hardships and circumstances, that they deserve this wonderful opportunity that will be presented to them,” said Michael Brown, president of the Erin Tierney Kramp Encouragement Foundation.

Brown added, “This agreement elevates the foundation’s scholarship program — and Erin’s legacy — to a much higher level, and for that I am very grateful. I am sure that Erin would have been proud to celebrate this special anniversary and to see how the ETK Foundation has grown and expanded in such a significant way by providing this additional opportunity to our recipients.” 

In conjunction with the DCCCD-SMU partnership announcement, the June 27 reception also honored the two recipients of the 2009-2010 DCCCD Kramp scholarship. They are Reginald Antonio Forest of Dallas and Amanda Collins of Mesquite. Forest attends DCCCD’s Richland College and is pursuing a degree in psychiatry. Collins, who is a student at DCCCD’s Eastfield College, is a biochemistry major. 

Each student has overcome obstacles to succeed in school, and their stories have inspired others as well.

Additional Information:

Press contact: Ann Hatch
(214) 378-1819; ahatch@dcccd.edu