Author: Danny Hafner

Orlando Hotelier and Philanthropist Harris Rosen Announces Scholarships to Rollins College For Tangelo Park and Parramore Students

Winter Park, Fla. (Nov. 7, 2017) — Renowned Central Florida hotelier and philanthropist Harris Rosen has partnered with Rollins College to offer three full college scholarships to Tangelo Park and Parramore students.

Rosen is expanding on the successful model he created to help students from Orlando’s traditionally under-served Tangelo Park and Parramore neighborhoods attain their dreams of achieving a college education debt-free. The Rollins partnership provides that three students annually combined from Tangelo Park and Parramore will receive full scholarships to attend Rollins College, a private liberal arts college in the Orlando suburb of Winter Park. The first recipients of the program will enroll at Rollins in Fall 2018.

“The Rollins College community is honored to partner with Harris Rosen and the Tangelo Park and Parramore communities to make the Rollins experience available to hard-working students who desire and deserve the opportunity of a great liberal arts education,” said Rollins College President Grant H. Cornwell. “We are thrilled to be a part of an outstanding program, and we look forward to a long partnership that will produce great benefits for two important communities.”

For the last 25 years in Tangelo Park, and the last two years in Parramore, Rosen has partnered with local community organizations and Florida public colleges and universities to assist students from those neighborhoods to attend and graduate college. He provides scholarship funding that includes tuition, room, board and books and collaborates with community organizations to ensure the students receive the mentoring and other support they need to help them succeed. The new agreement adds Rollins College to the college or university options from which the students whom Rosen supports can choose.

“We’re incredibly appreciative of this new partnership with Rollins College, a highly-acclaimed learning institution in our own backyard,” said Rosen Hotels & Resorts® President Harris Rosen. “This new program now broadens the scope of opportunities available for these deserving students and will provide an education that will most assuredly prepare them for life-long success and foster a spirit of contributing to society.”

Studies have shown that low-income students who attend more selective colleges such as Rollins have higher rates of retention and graduation than those who attend less selective institutions. The Rollins College mission of educating students for global citizenship and responsible leadership means that students from Tangelo Park and Parramore not only will have opportunities to attain an outstanding Rollins education, but also will have increased chances of becoming leaders who will give back to their communities.

Under the agreement between The Harris Rosen Foundation and Rollins College, Rosen will fund the remainder of participating students’ costs of attendance at Rollins after the College applies available federal, state, and internal financial aid dollars. The students will take advantage of existing mentoring and other non-financial support in The Harris Rosen Foundation’s Tangelo Park and Parramore scholarship programs, in addition to experiencing the world-class academic preparation, career planning, and other support services at Rollins.

Rollins College

Founded in 1885, Rollins College is Florida’s oldest college. Located in Winter Park, near Orlando, Rollins is consistently ranked as one of the top regional universities in the South by U.S. News & World Report. In addition to full-time undergraduate programs in the College of Liberal Arts, Rollins offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs for working adults through its evening program at the Hamilton Holt School and graduate business degree programs through its Crummer Graduate School of Business, which has been ranked a top MBA program by Forbes and Bloomberg Businessweek. Rollins serves approximately 3,200 degree-seeking students annually. For more information, visit www.rollins.edu.

Rosen Hotels & Resorts®

For more than 43 years, Harris Rosen, President & COO, Rosen Hotels & Resorts®, has been committed to providing outstanding value and service to guests at his nine Orlando hotels. The award-winning collection features three convention properties and six leisure hotels, which when combined provide 6,694 guestrooms, 700,000 square feet of meeting space, an 18-hole championship golf course, two spas and numerous restaurants. Through The Harris Rosen Foundation, Rosen has funded the building of a new school in Haiti, the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida, (ranked a top hospitality school by CEO Magazine), the Jack and Lee Rosen JCC and has provided hundreds of college scholarships through his Tangelo Park and Parramore programs and to Rosen College students and his own associates and dependents. For more information, visit RosenHotels.com.

Orlando Hotelier and Philanthropist Harris Rosen Has Received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette

On November 3rd, 2016, the Government of Japan announced the foreign recipients of the 2016 Autumn Imperial Decorations. President & COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts® Harris Rosen is one of the 96 foreign recipients and he received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, one of the highest ranking civilian honors awarded to those from other countries. “In serving as the Honorary Consul General of Japan in Orlando from November 2010 to October 2016, Harris has been an avid supporter of and invaluable resource to Japanese residents, visitors and companies in the Orlando area,” said Ken Okaniwa, Consul General of Japan for Florida. “In addition, he has given generously to further the student exchange program between Orlando and its Sister City of Urayasu, and assisted the relief efforts for the victims of the 2011 Japan Great East Earthquake and Tsunami. This recognition is greatly deserved.” Orlando is home to the most concentrated community of Japanese nationals in Florida and also welcomes Japanese tourists to local attractions. Additionally, 25 Japanese companies located in and near the Orlando area are expanding. Rosen has supported all of them in the stead of the Consulate-General of Japan in Miami due to the distance between South Florida and Orlando. He has also provided a venue for Japanese consular services. Florida’s largest independent hotelier and a noted philanthropist, Rosen donated the honorarium he received as Honorary Consul General to the Orlando Hoshuko, which teaches Japanese language and culture to the children of the region’s Japanese community. Following the Great East Japan Earthquake, he organized numerous charity events and presented $100,000 toward relief efforts. For more information about the Consulate-General of Japan in Miami, visit http://www.miami.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itprtop_en/index.html or call (305) 530-9090.

Harris Rosen hopes to replicate success of Tangelo Park project

Education has always played a role in Harris Rosen’s life.

Growing up, his parents continually emphasized its importance. He was the first child in his family to graduate from college. And in the 1990s, the Orlando hotelier launched a project to provide education opportunities to children in Tangelo Park.