NEWS RELEASE

12/4/01

Becky Smith, director of communications and stewardship,

Office of Development (650)723-9547; beckysmi@stanford.edu

Stanford creates memorial scholarships to honor alumni killed Sept. 11

Stanford has created five scholarships to honor alumni killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The scholarships were established with university general funds to provide need-based financial aid to Stanford students. Three scholarships will support undergraduate students, while two others will support graduate students.

The Ulf Ramm Ericson Memorial Fund and the Naomi Solomon Memorial Fund may be awarded to any undergraduate student. The Waleed Iskandar Memorial Fund will be awarded to undergraduates studying engineering. The Bryan C. Jack Memorial Fund will be awarded to students in the Graduate School of Business, while the Vincent M. Boland Memorial Fund will go to students in the School of Education's Program in Learning, Design and Technology.

"These scholarships represent our belief that education can heal and transform, that out of our grief we can build a better world," said President John Hennessy. "I am hopeful that students who are supported by these scholarships will make meaningful contributions in efforts to create a just and lasting peace in the world. And I can think of no better way to honor members of the Stanford family who lost their lives on Sept. 11 than to reaffirm the importance of education in serving humanity's highest ambitions."

Vincent M. Boland earned his master's degree from the Program in Learning, Design and Technology in 2001. The Ringwood, N.J., native started working only a few months before the terrorist attacks. He was a business analyst, designing computer software for Marsh & McClennan. Boland, 25, was in his office on the 97th floor of Tower One in the World Trade Center when the first jetliner hit.

Raised in Sweden, Ulf Ramm Ericson earned bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering from Stanford in 1948 and 1949. While here, he was an avid mountaineer and an inaugural member of the Stanford Alpine Club. Ericson is remembered as a hardworking man of few words who loved engineering enough to work well beyond the age at which most people retire. On Sept. 11, he was working for Washington Group International on the 91st floor of Tower Two of the World Trade Center. He was 79.

A native of Beirut, Lebanon, Waleed Iskandar came to the United States to attend Stanford, where he earned bachelor's and master's degrees in industrial engineering in 1988 and 1989. In 1990, he moved to Boston and began a career with the Monitor Group, a strategic consulting firm. His successful career with the firm included creating the Istanbul office and helping to develop the company's Central/Eastern European and Middle East operations. On Sept. 11, he was onboard American Airlines flight 11 en route to visit his parents in Los Angeles. He was 34.

Colleagues in his office at the Pentagon described Bryan C. Jack as a "brilliant mathematician" and a "real intellectual." In 1970, Jack graduated from Lee High School in Tyler, Texas, as a National Merit Scholar and a Presidential Scholar for the State of Texas. He held a bachelor's degree in economics from Caltech, an M.B.A. (1978) from Stanford and a doctorate in economics from the University of Maryland. In 2000, he was appointed an adjunct professor of economics at George Washington University. Jack also was a lecturer at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, where he was headed aboard American Airlines flight 77 when it was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon. He was 48.

Daughter of statistics Professor Emeritus Herbert Solomon, Naomi Solomon grew up on the Stanford campus. In 1970 and 1971, she earned her bachelor's degree in French and her master's in education from Stanford. After leaving Stanford, Solomon joined the French West African Division of the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and remained there until 1975, when Bank of America recruited her and launched her 25-year career in the financial services industry. Most recently, she was vice president of business development at software company Callixa. On the morning of Sept. 11, Solomon, 52, was attending a conference in the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center.

"Stanford has always believed in providing access to educational opportunities, regardless of a student's socioeconomic background," said Robin Mamlet, dean of admission and financial aid. "Endowing these scholarships to fund undergraduates in their educational pursuits is a fitting tribute to the memory of our alumni who died in the tragic events of Sept. 11. Such scholarships celebrate the role of education as an instrument to achieve peace and understanding through learning across differences."

John Ford, vice president for development, said, "I am so pleased that Stanford has decided to remember and honor our alumni in this way. Stanford will contact the families each fall to let them know about the students being supported by the funds. Likewise, the students will be given information about the alumni in whose name they are receiving financial aid. These scholarships will help to ensure that the events of Sept. 11 and their impact are never forgotten, but also to move forward in a positive and productive way."

The first student recipients of scholarship aid from all five funds will be named this academic year.

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