WARREN, OHIO, May 19, 2016 – Elizabeth Z. Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications, has provided a $30,000 endowment to Kent State University at Trumbull, in Warren, Ohio, to provide scholarships for graduating seniors from Howland High School.

Ms. Bartz graduated from Howland High School in Warren 40 years ago, and enrolled at the KSU Trumbull Campus that fall, where she attended for two years before completing her Journalism studies at the Kent State University main campus in Kent, Ohio in 1980.

She explains why she endowed this scholarship… "In honor of my 40-year graduation anniversary from Howland High School, I wanted to give something back. I’ve heard about students today having issues with college debt and felt it would be great to help graduating seniors from Howland High School attend the local area KSU Trumbull Campus just like I did. I feel blessed to be able to help the students, today and in the future. This is very exciting for me and I hope it helps bring others to the table to help students pay their college costs."

Starting fall semester 2016, Kent State University at Trumbull will award its first $1,000 scholarship from the new endowment ‘Elizabeth Z. Bartz Scholarship for Howland Tigers.’

During the ceremony, Ms. Bartz explained that she decided back in 1976 with her parents to "stay local" after graduating from Howland High School and to attend the KSU Trumbull Campus. She studied there for two years, where she also worked on the campus newspaper and became its editor. This journalism training certainly helped her toward obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Relations from KSU in 1980, and go on to launch Akron-based State and Federal Communications, today regarded as the leader in providing government compliance information and consulting services.

Ms. Bartz is also still very active at Kent State University and serves on the KSU National Alumni Relations Board of Directors, as well at the KSU School of Journalism and Mass Communications Alumni Board, and other committee leadership roles at the school.

During the ceremony kick-off presentation, Mr. Dave Smith, Director of Advancement, Kent State University, Trumbull Campus, said, "At our regional campus, we want to target more scholarships to help high school students within our local community. This new scholarship certainly helps that effort as we can assist students graduating from Howland High School. This will be a perpetual scholarship that will proudly be here forever, in her name."

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PHOTO CAPTION

Launching the new annual ‘Elizabeth Z. Bartz Scholarship for Howland Tigers’ at Kent State University at Trumbull, are (left to right) Ms. Elizabeth Z. Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communication; Mr. Kevin Spicher, Superintendent, Howland Local Schools; Dr. Lance Grahn, Dean, KSU Trumbull Campus; Ms. Pam Anderson, KSU Institutional Advancement Representative; Mr. Dave Smith, Director of Advancement, KSU Trumbull Campus; Ms. Sandra E. Williams, Principal, Howland High School; and Ms. Sarah Helmick, Assistant Director, Enrollment Management & Student Services, KSU Trumbull Campus.