7386: FIU professor donates $200,000 for scholarship for needy , Haitians (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: nozier <nozier@tradewind.net>

 FIU professor donates $200,000 for scholarship for needy Haitians
 By KARLA SCHUSTER Sun-Sentinel  Web-posted: 9:24 p.m. Mar. 18, 2001

Looking for the name of the newest donor at Florida International
University?  Try the faculty roster.   Jean-Claude Garcia-Zamor, a
public administration professor
 who has taught at FIU for 11 years, is giving his money --  $200,000 --
and his name to a scholarship program for needy  Haitian students. A
native of Haiti, Garcia-Zamor has not been back to the  island in more
than 20 years, but he sees evidence of the  poverty in his homeland in
the lives of his students, many of  them recent immigrants who juggle
jobs and school and struggle  to pay tuition.Over the years at FIU,
Haitian enrollment has grown  dramatically, as has the need for
scholarship money,Garcia-Zamor said.            So after mulling over
how to make his donation really count, the professor settled on the
scholarship fund, which will bear his  name. His donation is the largest
gift FIU has ever received from  a faculty member.
"If you try to save money, you will get a lot of money," said
Garcia-Zamor, who is in his early 60s. "I'm not rich, but I  invested
wisely." Garcia-Zamor left Haiti 40 years ago, studying at the
University of Puerto Rico and New York University. He taught at  the
University of Texas-Austin and Howard University before arriving at FIU.
"In the end, that's why I am here today," Garcia-Zamor said, "and I did
this because I don't want poor Haitians to be stopped from getting an
education just because they don't have the   money."  Students of
Haitian descent will be eligible for thescholarships. The awards will be
based on need and good  academic standing.  School officials expect the
donation, matched with a $100,000state grant, will create an endowment
that will yield enough      money to pay for tuition and books for up to
20 students each  year.  "We've had some nice gifts (from faculty)
before, but nothing  like this," said FIU Provost Mark Rosenberg. "It's
very rare and   equally as special to see a faculty member who is able
and willing to demonstrate this level of generosity."  For Garcia-Zamor,
it is a natural extension of the lessons he  tries to teach in the
classroom.
 In his "Professionalism and Ethics" graduate class, he always ends the
semester with the same lecture: sharing the fruits of  success,
financial or otherwise, with your community.     "And if you are
preaching ethics, you have to be a model," he  said. "You have to put
your money where your mouth is."