Egyptian Scholarship Fund (ESF)

Walid Taha, 2007/10/23

The purpose of this fund is to provide promising Egyptian college graduates with financial support to study at universities of their choice.

Legal organiziation: (proposed)

• Non-profit organization

Timeline:

• Student application deadline: September first.
• Notifaction: November first.
• Scholarships:
  • Annually renewed tuition scholarship
  • Annually renewed tuition and living expenses scholarship *

Honorary Chair: (proposed)

• Consul General of Egypt in Houston, His Excellence Mr. Elhusseini Abdelwahab

Academic Review Board: (proposal)

• Prof. Walid Taha, Rice University (chair)
• Prof. Yehia Massoud, Rice University
• Prof. Mahmoud Algamal, Rice University
• Dr. Amr Elbakry, Exxon
• Prof. Ehab Hanna, MD Anderson
• ... Baylor

Sponsors: (To be added) Listed in order of total contributions:

• ...
• ...

Conflict of Interest Policy:

The ESF relies on volunteers to serve on scholarship advisory committees for the Foundation?s many scholarship funds. The role of committee members is to evaluate the applications and recommend awarding the scholarship funds in the way that best fulfills the original donor?s charitable wishes. Although all scholarship funds have specific criteria, awarding scholarships also requires judgment in assessing the potential of the applicants. Furthermore, despite the difference in chriteria for promise across disciplines, the award process must be fair to the persons involved.

To ensure fairness, the ESF requires all members of scholarship advisory committees to adhere to this conflict of interest policy. By agreeing to serve on a committee, members also agree to comply with the following rules:

A member has a conflict of interest if (a) the member is related by blood, marriage, or adoption to a scholarship applicant; (b) the member will receive a direct or indirect financial benefit from recommending a scholarship to a particular applicant; or (c) due to personal or business relationships, or any other reason, the member can either exert influence or can be influenced to recommend a recipient without regard to the scholarship criteria.

If a member has either an actual or potential conflict of interest concerning an applicant, the member will disclose the conflict to the rest of the committee. The member shall not discuss the scholarship applicant with anyone on the committee and will not participate in, or be present during, any committee deliberations concerning that applicant.

Members agree to treat their committee?s deliberations and recommendations as confidential and not to disclose information to anyone outside the committee.

The Dallas Foundation relies on volunteers to serve on scholarship advisory committees for the Foundation?s many scholarship funds. The role of committee members is to evaluate the applications and recommend awarding the scholarship funds in the way that best fulfills the original donor?s charitable wishes. Although all scholarship funds have specific criteria, awarding scholarships also requires judgment in assessing the character, motivation, and potential of the applicants. Despite this mixture of art and science, the scholarship process must be fair to the persons involved.

To ensure fairness, The Dallas Foundation requires all members of scholarship advisory committees to adhere to this conflict of interest policy. By agreeing to serve on a committee, members also agree to comply with the following rules:

A member has a conflict of interest if (a) the member is related by blood, marriage, or adoption to a scholarship applicant; (b) the member will receive a direct or indirect financial benefit from recommending a scholarship to a particular applicant; or (c) due to personal or business relationships, or any other reason, the member exerts influence to recommend a recipient without regard to the scholarship criteria.

If a member has an actual or potential conflict of interest concerning an applicant, the member will disclose the conflict to the rest of the committee. The member shall not discuss the scholarship applicant with anyone on the committee and will not participate in, or be present during, any committee deliberations concerning that applicant.

Members agree to treat their committee?s deliberations and recommendations as confidential and not to disclose information to anyone outside the committee.

Members acknowledge that The Trustee (or Board of Trustees) has the final authority concerning the awarding of scholarships.