New ISM Scholarship Named For Pollack Quickly Reaches Endowment

The timeline to establish the Thomas A. Pollack Information Systems Management Scholarship has progressed from being simply a good idea to achieving fully endowed status more quickly than anticipated.

Groundwork for the scholarship, which is for undergraduate business students majoring in information systems management (ISM), began in March 2012. Donations reached the threshold for sustaining an endowed scholarship by December 2013. “It’s rare to take a project like this that quickly to completion,” said Jim Miller, associate vice president for development and alumni relations.

Miller pointed out that the generosity of individual members of the ISM Advisory Council—a group of industry professionals that collaborates with members of the business faculty to ensure ISM curriculum quality—and the dedication of the group as a whole to the project were essential for the fund’s rapid growth.

Additionally, the council selected Pollack as the scholarship’s namesake, which Miller believes attracted donations because of the many information systems careers Pollack helped to launch during his years of teaching at Duquesne. Pollack is a former associate dean of business and associate professor of supply chain and information systems management, who retired from full-time teaching in 2012.

According to Miller, it is unusual for an advisory council to play such an active role in fundraising. He added that the group took no shortcuts, beginning discussions to launch the scholarship fund, as is properly done, through close cooperation with the office of the dean of business before involving the Division of University Advancement.

Though large donations speed fundraising efforts, Miller said that he and his colleagues never underestimate the “cumulative impact of individual support,” referring to the many modest donations that helped to endow the scholarship. “An initiative like this demonstrates what a group of like-minded people are able to achieve,” Miller said.

In addition to facilitating internship and job placement, the ISM Advisory Council works to attract the most qualified students to the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business ISM program, regardless of a prospect’s personal finances. The Pollack scholarship was created to help achieve this goal.

Qualifying considerations for the Pollack Scholarship include financial need, faculty recommendations and a student’s commitment to pursuing an ISM career. Sophomores and juniors can apply, and it is possible for a student to receive the award over multiple years, including as a senior.

For more information, email Dr. Jennifer Nightingale, assistant professor of information systems management.