Grad Student in Fast Company

Christopher Sower, center, a graduate business administration student at SHSU, was recently presented a $5,000 scholarship from the Texas Business Hall of Fame. Sower is pictured with Charles Amato, left, an SHSU graduate and San Antonio businessman who serves as vice president of the Hall of Fame Foundation, and R. Dean Lewis, dean of the SHSU College of Business Administration.

Christopher Sower, graduate business administration major from Huntsville, was awarded a $5,000 scholarship from the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation for showing "the same entrepreneurial drive and leadership spirit" as the Hall of Fame inductees.

Sower was one of 22 graduate business students from throughout the state who were presented scholarships.

The business leaders honored this year by the foundation were Mary Crowley (posthumously), Michael Dell, Harold S. Hook, Roger Horchow and Red McCombs. Sower already has a lot in common with Dell, who founded Dell Computer Corporation of Austin.

Sower earned his undergraduate degree in psychology at SHSU and is concentrating on management and the use of computers in management information systems during his graduate studies.

He described the opportunity to be honored along with people like Dell as humbling and inspirational.

"Dell was the one everybody wanted to meet," he said. "He was kind of like approaching royalty. To say the least, I wouldn't mind being there (with Dell's accomplishments) when I'm 33 years old."

Sower said he also enjoyed meeting Charles E. Amato, an SHSU graduate who is now chairman of Southwest Business Corporation of San Antonio, part owner of the San Antonio Spurs, and serves as the Hall of Fame Foundation's vice president for development.

In addition to working as a graduate assistant in the SHSU Small Business Development Center, Sower operates a computer consulting business helping businesses advertise on the Internet. He has designed Web pages and set up a computer network for a Huntsville company.

His future plans include working for a technology-oriented company, earning his Ph. D. in management, and forming his own independent consulting firm. He plans to graduate in May, 1999.

Sower was recognized at the Texas Business Hall of Fame Foundation's Annual Awards Dinner at the Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas and was also honored at a Scholars' Luncheon. His parents, Vic and Judy Sower, both of whom are SHSU faculty members, also attended the dinner, as did R. Dean Lewis, dean of the College of Business Administration, Mitchell Muehsam, associate dean, and Sower's fiancee, Lisa Sohel.

Media Contact: Frank Krystyniak
Nov. 19, 1998
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