MEDIA RELEASES

Dominican University freshman Angelica Diaz, a resident of Cicero, is one of only 1,000 students selected across the nation this year as Gates Millennium Scholars. Established in 1999 by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the scholarship program provides outstanding minority students with the money they need to cover unmet costs of their post-secondary education.

Diaz, whose roots reach to Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico, is the first member of her immediate family to attend college. Knowing that college costs would be beyond her parent’s reach, she worked hard throughout high school, graduating from Nazareth Academy in La Grange Park with a 3.8 grade-point-average (GPA) and a four-year unbroken streak on the honor roll. The combination of the Gates funding and scholarship aid from Dominican is paying 100 percent of her educational expenses this year. As long as she keeps up her grades, the Gates scholarship is renewable for all four years, and in some instances for graduate school as well.

The editor of photography for her high school yearbook, Diaz is considering a major in photography, with an eye on a career in photojournalism. She also loves music, and is considering law school after she graduates from Dominican. For now, she is concentrating on balancing five classes and an on-campus job.

Founded in 1901, Dominican University is a comprehensive, coeducational Catholic institution offering bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Dominican offers 50 undergraduate academic programs in the Rosary College of Arts and Sciences and 15 graduate programs through the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, the Brennan School of Business, the School of Education, the Graduate School of Social Work, and the School of Leadership and Continuing Studies. In the 2008 issue of America’s Best Colleges, U.S. News & World Report again ranked Dominican University in the top tier of Midwest master’s level universities and as a “best value” for the tenth consecutive year.