Posted on December 6, 2005

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Gates Foundation Awards $33 Million to University of Washington Law School

The Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $33.3 million grant to the University of Washington School of Law for a scholarship program that will encourage students to seek careers in public service while helping to reduce the burden of law-school debt.

The grant will establish the William H. Gates Public Service Law Scholarship Program and will enable the school to recruit and develop committed, knowledgeable students equipped to help those who are either without access to legal representation or historically underserved by the profession. Named in honor of the father of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Jr., the Gates PSL Scholarship will fund the legal education of five candidates each year over a period of eighty years, and will cover the cost of attending the UW School of Law, including tuition, room and board, and academic supplies for entering first-year students. The program also will provide support for seminars, a speaker series, internships, job placement, and several opportunities for Gates PSL Scholars and other UW law students to collaborate on public service issues with other law schools in the state.

William H. Gates, Sr., a graduate of the UW law school and co-chair of the Gates Foundation, is credited with more than five decades of public service. "We knew that the best possible gift for my father would be one that supports and continues his long tradition of service by opening opportunities to others," said Bill Gates, Jr. "This program will have an impact not just on the lives of four hundred scholars, but on all of the people they will serve."

"This program will give our law students an extraordinary opportunity to pursue public service," added university president Mark Emmert. "I am confident that it will become one of the most distinguished scholarships for the study of law. There is simply no better way to honor Bill Gates Sr., a man who has given so much of his life to public service and to the University of Washington in particular."

“UW School of Law Announces Public Service Law Scholarship Program.” Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Press Release 12/01/05.

Primary Subject: Education
Secondary Subject(s): Higher Education
Location(s): Seattle, Washington

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