Articles
Pioneering woman engineer establishes scholarship at HCC
Jun 21, 2024
Patsy Chappelear (center) shown here with Zachary Hodges (left) and HCC Foundation President Karen Schmidt (right).
In a heartening act of philanthropy, Patsy Chappelear recently donated $30,000 to the Houston Community College (HCC) Foundation. The fund, named the Patsy S. Chappelear Engineering Endowed Scholarship Fund, will provide scholarships of $1,000 each year to qualified HCC engineering students.
While Chappelear has a commitment to fostering educational opportunities for all students, she has a personal connection with engineering students. She’s a retired chemical engineer, who worked for Shell Oil, and retired from Hudson Engineer Corporation, where she served as a senior project and process engineer.
Chappelear was born in Burnet, Texas in 1931. She moved around Texas with her parents after her father's job fell victim to the Great Depression and he had to chase work wherever he could find it, doing carpentry and selling insurance and washing machines.
She credits her parents with fostering the need and desire for a good education.
“My daddy quit school in the seventh grade to work on the farm and my mother quit in the eleventh grade because she didn’t have shoes to wear, so I came from a very poor background,” she said. “My parents were determined to make sure that their children were educated. So, I was very fortunate to have strong family support.”
When she graduated from Rice University, she was only the fifth woman to receive an engineering degree from the university. She went on to serve as a senior research associate in Rice’s department of chemical engineering for more than 20 years.
Northwest College President Zachary Hodges said this donation will provide opportunities for students who strive for excellence but are sometimes unable to begin or continue their education because of financial reasons.
“Thanks to Patsy’s generosity, our engineering students will have the chance to achieve their academic and personal aspirations, without having to be concerned about finances,” Hodges said. “It aligns perfectly with our HCC Foundation’s mission to provide a quality, accessible and affordable education to the diverse population of students we serve.”
The Houston Community College Foundation supports HCC in its efforts to attract and educate Houston-area students with the desire and the dedication to learn, including many non-traditional students and those facing barriers to higher education.