Cecil Bozarth Scholarship is Helping Zack Liptok Prepare for Post-Military Career
Zack Liptok, a Poole College junior majoring in business administration with six years of military experience behind him, aims to open his own business after graduating.
To prepare, he selected supply chain management as his concentration because, he said, “My (future) company will fail if there is no management of inventory or supplies, so learning how to properly manage these things now will certainly aid me in the future.”
Liptok made that statement in a letter he sent to the college after being awarded the first Cecil C. Bozarth III Scholarship earlier this fall.
His remarks reflect the nature of the man that the scholarship honors – a professor of supply chain management who taught at Poole College for more than two decades. The endowed scholarship was established this past summer in memory of Bozarth, who died suddenly in May 2018.
“The idea of a scholarship aligns with what Cecil was passionate about … helping students go to school,” said Richard Warr, interim associate dean for faculty and academic affairs and professor of finance.
Liptok’s letter, addressed to the donors who made the scholarship possible, affirmed the importance of such support for students.
“The lifting of any financial burden to a college student is a huge help (enabling) them focus on their academics rather than on how to pay for their classes. This is exactly what you are doing for me and I really want to thank you for it,” he said.
While in the U.S. Army, Liptok served on assignments in Europe and the Middle East, and is now in the Army Reserves and in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at NC State.
While these military commitments limit his free time and add to transportation expenses, he said they are “totally worth it,” as he is “helping lead and also learn, alongside of future leaders of the United States Army. This program has really built a second family for me and I enjoy attending training and classroom sessions along with my fellow cadets. Your much-appreciated aid is helping to ease the financial burdens that come with attending college.”
Liptok is among the nearly 250 Poole College graduate and undergraduate scholarship recipients invited to the college’s scholarship reception that provides the students an opportunity to meet with their benefactors. The scholarship reception was held at the Talley Student Union on Friday, Oct. 26.
Donald Warsing, associate professor of operations and supply chain management in Poole College’s Department of Business Management, offered remarks on behalf of his department and the college at the scholarship reception.
Reflections
“It’s an honor to be standing here to say a few words in memory of my colleague and friend, Dr. Cecil Chester Bozarth III,” he said. “That’s a pretty big name, fitting for a big guy. And I’m standing here because Cecil was big in many ways – not just physical stature but also just a big presence, a big advocate for the field of operations and supply chain management, and for the students and scholars in that field. Those of us who had the honor and the pleasure to be in that big presence in various ways are no doubt still feeling the lingering sorrow of no longer having Cecil with us.”
“Due to the generosity of many of you in this room, Cecil’s legacy lives on through the Bozarth Memorial Scholarship,” Warsing said. He related that, following a conversation with then Dean Annette L. Ranft, a decision was made to pursue establishing a scholarship in Bozarth’s honor. Richard Warr, professor and then head of the business management department which included the supply chain faculty, began exploring the steps needed to establish a scholarship.
“What happened was truly an inspiring and beautiful tribute to how much Cecil meant to his colleagues at Poole, to the impact he left in his place, to that big presence that we all remember so dearly,” Warsing said. The initial request for support to establish the scholarship went out on June 15; by June 26, “just shy of $51,000” had been received in scholarship pledges, he said.
“What we did was tap into the vein of goodwill that Cecil had established over his 26 years of service to NC State, his commitment to the educational process, to building a college from humble beginnings in 1992 to the very large and successful enterprise that it is today. All we did was ask people to step up and give a little bit back in honor of a good and decent man who gave so much of his time and energy to build that enterprise. We just asked people to do this for Cecil – and they did.”
“As of today, the Cecil Bozarth Memorial Scholarship fund has over $65,000 committed pledges from 67 different donors. As you heard earlier, its first recipient has been named and Cecil’s legacy lives on through this gift and all future gifts that will advance the cause of learning in the field of operations and supply chain management,” Warsing said.
