The Lillis Foundation has made a $2.3 million dollar gift to the University of Puget Sound to establish the Lillis Scholar Program, according to a statement released this week. The gift, the largest expendable gift for financial aid in the university’s 124-year history, will offer two highly qualified students full scholarships at Puget Sound each year, including tuition, room, and board.
Lillis Scholars will be academically talented students who are selected from a pool of more than 5,000 Puget Sound applicants and who demonstrate an exemplary record of academic achievement. They are likely to be prospective candidates for Rhodes, Marshall, and other prestigious graduate scholarship recognition.
The first Lillis Scholars will enroll in Fall 2008 as members of the class of 2012. Each year, two more Lillis scholars will be selected from the incoming class. The Lillis Scholar Program was established through a gift made by the Lillis Foundation of Castle Rock, Colo., and headed by Charles Lillis, former chairman and CEO of MediaOne Group and founding partner of Lone Tree Capital, and Gwen Lillis, chair of the Lillis Foundation and board chair-elect of the University of Oregon Foundation.
For information about eligibility for the Lillis Scholar Program, contact the Office of Admission at (800) 396-7191 or (253) 879-3211, or visit the university’s Lillis Scholar Web site at http://www.ups.edu/x25619.xml .