Pi Chi Omega Push for Perpetual Frishman Scholarship

Pi Chi Omega, the national fraternity for pest control professionals, awards $9,000 in scholarships to undergraduate or graduate students pursuing degrees in urban and industrial pest management. Currently, two of the four annual scholarships pay tribute to our early founders and industry leaders; the Founders Endowment Scholarship and the John Osmun Scholarship. Pi Chi Omega is currently raising funds to create a perpetual scholarship in honor of Dr. Austin Frishman.

Several years ago, a fundraising effort was created that sought financial support for the Pi Chi Omega scholarship program, and also looked to recognize the past leadership and key members of Pi Chi Omega through named scholarships. At that time, nearly $15,000 was raised in Dr. Frishman’s name. The fundraising program stipulated that once a fund hit $20,000 then 5 scholarships would be awarded in an individual’s name. Once $50,000 was raised, then an annual scholarship would be awarded perpetually. The fundraising effort has since expired, but in January the Pi Chi Omega Board voted to re-open the effort in Dr. Frishman’s name through the end of 2017.

A GoFundMe account was recently created to accept additional donations to the Frishman fund, and has raised sufficient funds to push the total raised just over the $20,000 mark. The Pi Chi Omega Board is encouraged by contributors’ generosity and would like to push to raise additional funds in an attempt to meet the $50,000 threshold by the end of this year.

Raising nearly $30,000 in just over 2 months, is a lofty goal, but the pest management industry is infamously stalwart in recognizing our industry’s giants. Dr. Austin Frishman is certainly one academic giant that we can all get behind and it would only be fitting that a Pi Chi Omega scholarship be awarded in perpetuity in his name since he has had a tremendous impact on not just our industry through his own work, but through each of the students he has nurtured and mentored.

The Pi Chi Omega Board would like to invite anyone moved to support this effort to make a donation directly to Pi Chi Omega, avoiding the loss of fees charged by the Go Fund Me account. So that 100% of your donation will go towards this worthy effort please mail a check to: Pi Chi Omega, PO Box 187, Fredericksburg, VA 22404. Please write “Dr. Frishman Named Scholarship Fund” on the memo line. If you’d like to pay by credit card, please call us at 540-376-3617 or make the contribution through PayPal by paying pichiomega@pichiomega.org and adding a note that the funds are made in support of the Dr. Frishman Named Scholarship Fund. Please note, that while Pi Chi Omega is a non-profit organization, we are not a charity and donations are not deductible on an individual tax return.

Thank you in advance for supporting Pi Chi Omega’s effort to push to fund for a perpetual scholarship in Dr. Austin Frishman’s name.

Pi Chi Omega is a national fraternity for pest control professionals. Initiated in 1950 by six students of Dr. John V. Osmun at Purdue University, the fraternity today is comprised of nearly 450 members representing 38 states and 4 foreign countries. These members are some of the most distinguished, dedicated, and talented professionals in the pest control industry.