Goizueta Foundation establishes Hispanic/Latino scholarship

The Goizueta Foundation has made a $1 million gift to Boston College to establish and endow the Goizueta Foundation Scholars Fund to provide need-based scholarship assistance annually to Hispanic/Latino students.

Established in 1992 by Roberto C. Goizueta, the Goizueta Foundation focuses its philanthropy on educational and charitable institutions. Goizueta was chairman of the board of directors and chief executive officer of the Coca-Cola Company until his death in October 1997.

"Need-based scholarships like those made possible by the Goizueta Foundation send a powerful message to deserving students that it is possible to attend and achieve success at a national private university such as Boston College," said Robert Lay, dean of enrollment management at Boston College. Currently 5 percent of BC students are Latino.

Boston College has worked at increasing the number of AHANA (African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American) students enrolled at the University. The Goizueta Foundation scholarship will bolster this effort and is one in a growing number of initiatives to support AHANA enrollment and scholarship at Boston College.

The University's AHANA student retention rate has risen from 17 percent to 80 percent over the past two decades. Director of AHANA Student Programs Donald Brown credits this rise to BC's ability to provide key services such as academic advisement, tutoring, personal counseling, academic performance monitoring, career advisement, and comprehensive financial aid.

Special programs, such as the Benjamin E. Mays Mentoring Program, which pairs AHANA freshmen with faculty mentors, and the Gospel Caravan, which provides transportation to Sunday morning worship services in the Boston area, contribute to the high AHANA student retention rate.

"The Goizueta Foundation affords a wonderful opportunity to prepare Latino students for positions of authority and responsibility in the workplace," said Brown. "Latinos are underrepresented in virtually every institution in our society. This scholarship fund will help ensure that Latino graduates are present in the teaching profession, the legal arena, the medical field, and virtually every other professional arena of our society."


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