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SFA alum returns to campus to endow scholarships
Shirlley Luna - July 20, 2006
Focus POS Systems, a Texas-based technology company, recently made a $200,000 donation to Stephen F. Austin State University’s Department of Computer Science. The scholarship will benefit students majoring in computer science at SFA. Pictured are Dr. Craig Wood, chair of the Department of Computer Science; Lance Hirsch, president of Focus POS Systems; and Dr. Violet Rogers, dean of the Nelson Rusche College of Business at SFA. The gift was made through the Stephen F. Austin State University Foundation.
Computer science students at Stephen F. Austin State University will soon receive a financial helping hand from a former SFA student. Focus POS Systems, a Texas-based company supplying technology to the hospitality industry, has made a $200,000 endowment to the university for scholarships in the Department of Computer Science.
Lance Hirsch, president of Focus POS Systems, graduated from SFA in 1986, enrolled in graduate school at Texas A&M University and began doing consultant work.
“I was doing some consulting for a restaurant in Houston, and saw the opportunity to write a point-of-sale system and market it,” Hirsch explained. “Touch-screen technology was relatively new at the time, and that was what I saw as the biggest opportunity. Now Focus POS Systems sells that product to dealers across the United States.”
Focus POS Systems technology is in use across the country in fine dining restaurants and fast food establishments, in hotels, country clubs and casinos. The company’s success has resulted in the most significant gift the Department of Computer Science has ever received, according to Dr. Craig Wood, chair of the department.
“The computer science faculty are very excited about this gift and about the potential effect it will have in attracting students into our academic programs,” Wood said. “The department plans to use the scholarship funds to help recruit excellent high school graduates to attend Stephen F. Austin State University and major in computer science.”
The SFA endowment is a continuation of the company’s support of education, from supporting the Texas Restaurant Association Educational Foundation to volunteering in area schools.
“My family and my employees at Focus POS obviously have a sense of how important education is,” Hirsch said. “If we can help someone else get an education, that’s what we’d like to do. We hope this donation will encourage other alumni to make significant contributions to the computer science department, and we hope to continue funding this scholarship in the future.”