WMU Home > About WMU > WMU News

WMU News

Senior earns prestigious management scholarship

June 15, 2006

KALAMAZOO--For the second year in a row, a Western Michigan University student has been awarded a prestigious R. Gene Richter Scholarship, named for a leading force in the supply chain management profession.

Elizabeth Aven, a senior from Edwardsburg, Mich., is one of six students nationwide to receive the honor for 2006. Another WMU student, Andrea Brown of Waterford, Mich., earned the honor in 2005.

Now in its third year, the R. Gene Richter Scholarship Program has grown to be the largest nationally recognized scholarship program in the field of supply chain management. It was created to identify future supply management leaders and fast-track them into the profession through a combination of tuition assistance and mentoring programs.

This year's recipients were announced at the R. Gene and Nancy D. Richter Foundation Awards Presentation Dinner, held May 8 in Minneapolis during the Institute for Supply Management's 91st Annual International Supply Management Conference and Educational Exhibit.

Richter Scholars are selected based on their academic achievement, leadership potential and high ethical standards from some of America's top-accredited university supply chain management programs. In addition to WMU, the 2006 finalists represented the University of Maryland and Arizona State, Bowling Green State, North Carolina State and Pennsylvania State universities.

Scholarship recipients receive up to $5,000 in tuition assistance and one year after graduation and completion of real-world work experience, are invited to participate in an exclusive, invitation-only Institute for Supply Management Power Conference for the profession's executive leadership.

They also participate in the Executive Mentoring Program, which pairs them with an established executive in the supply chain management field, and the Junior Mentoring Program, which pairs them with a young professional from the Richter Scholar Class of 2004.

For more information about Aven or WMU's ISM2 program, contact Dr. Bret Wagner at bret.wagner@wmich.edu or (269) 387-5222.

Related story
Business student wins national scholarship

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, (269) 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

WMU News
Office of University Relations
Western Michigan University
1903 W Michigan Ave
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5433 USA
(269) 387-8400
www.wmich.edu/wmu/news