Scholarship endowment for hospitality management

William H. Bodenhamer Jr., president of USA Parking, has given $100,000 to East Carolina University to provide a scholarship endowment for hospitality management students.

The gift was presented recently to Chancellor Richard Eakin and Helen Grove, dean of the School of Human Environmental Sciences, at the company’s headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Bodenhamer, an ECU alumnus, is a former student government president, football player and university trustee. He has been active with the university for more than 20 years.

“My years at East Carolina gave me the background to pursue the American dream,” he said. “I am proud to be in the position to offer talented students similar opportunities.”

The scholarships will be awarded annually to full-time, upper-level undergraduate students with strong academic records in the Hospitality Management Program in the School of Human Environmental Sciences. Students enrolled in the accelerate MBA program with the Hospitality Management Option will also be eligible.

Dean Grove said,”The faculty in the Hospitality Management Program are thrilled with the endowment. The support this fund will provide to talented students will be of enormous value to our program.”

One two-year scholarship and one one-year scholarship will be awarded annually, beginning in 1999. USA Parking has 750 employees and annual revenues of more than $50 million.

The company manages more than 60,000 parkings spaces in major hotels, resorts, sports complexes and airports in five states and Puerto Rico. Major clients include Marriott, Hyatt, and Ritz-Carlton hotels, the Miami Motor Sports Complex, and airports in Florida and North Carolina.”