The Jeanne and Terry Startzel Endowed Presidential Fellowship in Social Work was established by Jeanne and Terry Startzel, BA ’76, MSSW ’85. While enrolled in the School of Social Work, Terry was a research assistant under Drs. Ruth McRoy and Michael Lauderdale, giving him a unique opportunity to develop early geographic information system (GIS) maps and social and economic data. Lauderdale and Startzel’s work was presented in Mexico and, later, at IBM’s invitation, at a sociology convention in New York City.

While pursuing his master’s, Startzel maintained a 4.0 GPA and was awarded the Charles W. Laughton Endowed Presidential Scholarship, an honor he still takes pride in. The experience of earning this scholarship later inspired Jeanne and Terry to create an endowment to support outstanding  students.

Though Terry received a master’s degree in social work, he discovered his aptitude for computing while working at the Center for Social Work Research, which helped forge his professional path. He was hired at Visa in the role of project manager, was promoted to senior project manager, managed the Contact Center Technology Program, and recently transitioned to a new role as chief systems architect within the Customer Relationship Management space.

The Startzels look forward to helping students by providing financial support for their studies. “I feel deeply moved to give back to The University of Texas and the School of Social Work for everything these institutions gave to me,” Terry said. “Most important, the opportunities to explore and discover myself academically while a student at UT.”