“This was a great opportunity. I never
thought that I would have a photography exhibition here,” said Rao, who began
the Desi Scholarship Fund in December of 2014. “It was great—terrific, really—
because I’ve had this hobby for a long time and for it to go for this nice
cause was even better.”
Rao, who is a
business professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, got the idea
after an alumnae photography exhibition in the Mary and Jeff Bell Library and
approached Jeff Janko for help.
“[Rao] actually came up to me one night
in the parking lot after an exhibition and he said ‘How could I have a show in
the library?’” Janko said, a library information specialist at the Mary and
Jeff Bell Library. “I went over and he had about six hanging in his office and
I thought, ‘these are really good.’ We then picked out about 30 for the
exhibit, only about 20 of which were actually displayed.”
The Desi Foundation raised a total of $9,000. This will provide nine $1,000 scholarships to students in the Coastal Bend area. Four of the scholarships will go to students studying at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
Photo Courtesy of
Mohan Rao
Although not many prints were sold, Rao
considers this a major stepping-stone for the Desi Foundation Scholarship.
Rao has high hopes that the Desi
Foundation Scholarship will continue to grow and reach more students in financial
need.
“I just started this so we don’t have
any big bureaucracies because whatever donors donate, all of that money goes to
the scholarships. There are no administrative costs or anything like that,” Rao
said. “There are some nonprofit organizations that support scholarships to
manage in terms of communicating with donors and different universities to set
up scholarships. It’s time consuming.”
Now that the Desi Foundation
Scholarship is beginning to take off, Rao is planning to begin to start
advertising in order to acquire more scholarship donors.
“I’m hesitant to advertise because
somebody may want to call and find out more about the scholarship. I’m busy
with my work here,” Rao said. “So I’m wondering how to handle that. My daughter
who lives in San Antonio offered to help out and answer phone calls from
potential donors and students as well.”
This is the second year for the Desi
Foundation Scholarship. In the scholarship’s inaugural year only one
scholarship was able to be given out.
The “Europe Through My Lens” exhibit
was available for viewing from Thursday, Nov. 5, 2015, through Friday, Jan. 29,
2016 in the downstairs atrium of the Mary and Jeff Bell Library. Images of
Rao’s digital photography prints from the “Europe Through My Lens” collection can
be found online at www.flickr.com/photos/drrao/sets/72157659875986961.
For more information on the canvas
print exhibit, contact Janko at 361-825- 2588 or email jeff.janko@tamucc.edu,
or Rao at 361-825-2458 or email mohan.rao@tamucc.edu.
Also for information on the Desi
Foundation or to become a donor, please visit www.desischolarshipfund.org or
email Rao at mohanrao@tamucc.edu
http://www.islandwavesnews.com/2016/02/europe-through-my-lens-professor-expands-scholarship-funds-through-library-exhibition/