Project Management Institute -- Baltimore Chapter -- 2006 Bishop/Kloch Memorial Scholarship Recipients

PMI Baltimore Chapter Awards 1^st Bishop/Kloch Memorial Scholarships

2006 Bishop/Kloch Memorial Scholarship Recipients: Craig Rixham, Andrew Stephens, Ayman Nassar

At the August 17, 2006 chapter meeting in Hanover, the 1st Bishop/Kloch Memorial Scholarships were awarded. Bob Bishop and Joyce Kloch were founding members of the PMI Baltimore Chapter and both had a vision to educate current and future project managers. On this historic night, Bob’s and Joyce’s vision became a reality. Three recipients were awarded a $1,000 scholarship to their colleges. The Selection Committee (Michelle Bishop – chair, Anne Bishop, Donna Borsani, and Sandra Pilkerton) did a marvelous job evaluating all the applicants.

Speakers for the evening included:

Tim Illig, President of the PMI Baltimore Chapter Community Fund. Inc, and MC of the awards ceremony

Bob Wallace, President of the PMI Chapter

John Good, founding member of the chapter, spoke about Joyce’s contributions.

Anne Bishop, widow of Bob Bishop, spoke on how much education meant to Bob.

Steven Edwards, President of Edwards Industries, spoke of corporate responsibility in contributing to the scholarship. Edwards Industries continues to be the largest financial contributor to the scholarship. In three years, they have generously donated $4,700.

The 2006 Bishop/Kloch Memorial Scholarship recipients are:

Andrew Stephens

Tim Illig, Andrew Stephens, Michelle Bishop

Andrew Stephens is an incoming freshman at Penn State University, where he will be studying business management. Earlier this year, he graduated as a member of the National Honor Society from South Carroll High School with a 3.8 grade point average. He was an ambassador for Carroll County Schools, Vice President of his senior class, student government representative for Carroll County Schools, member of the School Improvement Team, saxophone player in the high school band, assistant troop leader in the Boy Scout, track and field member, ski club member, and member of St. Michael’s Church. He works at The Links at Challedon Golf Course, where the PMI Baltimore Chapter will hold its golf tournament. His father is PMI Baltimore Chapter member, James Stephens. In letters of references, Andrew is described as mature, dependable, self-motivated, dedicated, consistent, polite, and has a high degree of integrity, responsibility and ambition. In his essay for the scholarship, Andrew stated, “Project managers are less concerned about self-interests and more interested in helping the group achieve the stated goal. . . . Like the game of golf, a successful career requires persistence, patience, and keeping your eye on the ball! . . . Our world needs good leaders with inner strength and courage to move things ahead and deal with issues while being considerate and sensitive to the needs of others. A career in project management has become a passion that is ingrained and integrated into every aspect of my being.”

Craig Rixham

Tim Illig, Craig Rixham, Michelle Bishop

Craig Rixham is an incoming freshman at Elizabethtown College, where he will be studying information systems. Earlier this year, he graduated with honors from Bel Air High School with a 4.0 grade point average. He was a member of the Bel Air High School Academic Team, Fed Challenge Team, and Baltimore Civil War Roundtable. He has coached and refereed youth soccer. He attended the National Student Leadership Conference. His father is PMI Baltimore Chapter member, William Rixham. In letters of references, Craig is described as devoted to academics, has immense academic potential, perpetually conscientious, frequently exceeds expectations, dedicated to probing more deeply into material to understand the application of that content into larger arenas, excels even his most accomplished contemporaries, and has motivated his instructors. In his essay for the scholarship, Craig stated, “Project management has contributed more and more to business operations, and the role of the project manager has become increasingly recognized to match significance that the job carries. As a project manager, a person not only must chart a roadmap as to where the project must go, what objectives are to be achieved and how to get there, but must also coordinate those people with whom he or she works in order to complete those goals and reach their destination.” Craig cites leadership, planning, preparation, coordinating, and developing team-work and team cohesiveness as traits of successful project managers.

Ayman Nassar

Tim Illig, Ayman Nassar, Michelle Bishop

Ayman Nassar is pursuing a Masters degree in Engineering Management Systems Engineering at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he has a 4.0 grade point average. He currently is a consultant with Intercontinental Networks, LLC. He has project management and information systems experience with a number of companies in the United States and Egypt. He has several US patents in the telecommunications field. His memberships include the PMI Baltimore Chapter, PMI’s Post Disaster Rebuild Methodology Project Team, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and Society for Human Resource Management. He has given presentations, taught classes and published articles on project management and information systems networks. In letters of references, Ayman is described as having the ability to motivate team members, diligent in his work, supervision and reporting, well-organized, highly creative, impeccable work ethic, and strong advocate of “thinking outside the box”. In his essay for the scholarship, Ayman stated his “academic objective is to pursue research in developing models that can be used as a tool to develop an accurate understanding and estimation of the value of a system both in qualitative and quantitative terms, over the entire life-cycle of the system and in reference to the various stakeholders. Such a tool would optimize the design resources and costs during the developmental phase of the system and the operational/utility characteristics of the system during the deployment and operational phases of the life-cycle.”