Schottland Scholars Program’s Future Secured

Since its founding in 2009, the Schottland Scholars Program in the School of Business has come to embody the best attributes of the College of Charleston: high-achieving students and alumni, dedicated and accomplished professors and selfless community mentors.

A new gift from one of the program’s most ardent supporters will help ensure these qualities endure long into the future.

Carrie Blair Messal

Bill Finn, a Schottland Scholars mentor and a member of the School of Business Board of Governors, recently announced a gift of $50,000 to the Schottland Programs Endowment. Finn made his gift as a result of a call to action by Peter and Susan Schottland, the founders of the Schottland Scholars Program, who committed $1 million to establish the Schottland Programs Endowment in April 2014 and challenged alumni and friends of the School of Business to contribute an additional $500,000 to the endowment. Finn’s gift will permanently name one of the 10 Schottland Scholars in honor of Carrie Messal, founding director of the Schottland Scholars Program.

“We are now confident that as long as there is a College of Charleston, there will be a Schottland Scholars program,” says Messal, associate professor of management in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship. “Thanks to the gift from Mr. Finn, I am honored that my name will also be a part of this lasting legacy.”

RELATED: Read more about the Schottland family’s gift to establish the Schottland Programs Endowment.

Bill Finn

Finn and others familiar with Messal’s work on behalf of the Schottland Scholars say she is the driving force behind the program and the high-impact, hands-on learning experience it provides to students.

“Her commitment, service and dedication to the program as our founding director has been extraordinary,” says Finn, a retired CEO/Chairman of AstenJohnson Inc., a global engineered-products company based in Charleston. “Her personal interest in seeing the scholars succeed combined with her enthusiasm is a winning combination.”

The seeds for the Schottland Scholars Program were planted in 1993 when Peter Schottland’s father, Stan Schottland, established the Schottland Leadership Award. Peter went on to create the program in 2009.

The program fosters professional development by providing 10 business students with challenging, extracurricular opportunities in the business community, including site visits to local, regional and national companies as well as lectures from invited business and government leaders.

The program has now produced five years of graduates and established a strong network of Schottland alumni who are giving back to the program and staying connected to the College.

“It has always been my concern that the network would fade away without continued funding for the program,” Messal says. “Thanks to the generosity of the Schottland family and other great friends like Bill Finn who are responding to their challenge, that network will endure for the long-term.”

RELATED: Watch a video of Bill Finn announcing his gift.