Category: Providing Hope Through Education

Winter Park, Fla. (May 25, 2018) — The first recipients of the Harris Rosen – Rollins College Scholarship have been selected. Donayja Gates, Tylyiah Andrews and Samijah Butler, high school seniors from Orlando’s Tangelo Park and Parramore neighborhoods, received the scholarships and will enter Rollins this Fall. Gates is currently in the medical program at Jones High School and hopes to pursue a career in cognitive behavioral therapy. She is a member of the National Honor Society and a scholar-athlete, pitching on the softball team. Andrews is captain of the softball team and a varsity volleyball player at Jones High School. She recently received the Boys & Girls Club Youth of the Year Award from her local club. She hopes to study computer science at Rollins. Butler plays on the varsity basketball team and the flag football team at Dr. Phillips High School. She also plays the piano and drums.

“We are grateful to have The Harris Rosen Foundation as a partner in identifying and supporting outstanding students from the Parramore and Tangelo Park communities to attend Rollins,” said Faye Tydlaska, vice president for enrollment management at Rollins. “Our selection committee was impressed with the accomplishments of our new Rosen Scholars, and we look forward to welcoming them on campus this fall.”

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. This year, Rollins College was added as an option from which the students whom Rosen supports can choose.

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 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.

Rosen Hotels & Resorts Since 1974, 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 6,693 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 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.

About 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.

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.

Rosen Honored with Prestigious Alumni Award during Annual Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration April 14-15

ORLANDO (April 20, 2011) — Orlando businessman and philanthropist Harris Rosen, who was recently named Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year 2011, accepted the honor in a keynote address to fellow alumni, students, faculty and staff during the school’s annual Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration on April 14 at the university’s Statler Auditorium.

The two-day conference, held April 14-15, was attended by more than 900 students, alumni, faculty and staff from 11 colleges and programs throughout the university and featured symposia from participating groups; the final stages of two business idea contests; a showcase of soon-to-be commercial technologies; a technology, business and resource expo and a gala banquet.

The Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 award is given annually to a Cornell University graduate who best exemplifies entrepreneurial achievement, community service and high ethical standards. Now the President & COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts® in Orlando, Rosen received his Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration in 1961. After working for several hotel chains, Rosen purchased a bankrupt 256-room Quality Inn in Orlando in 1974 and now owns and operates the largest independent hotel chain in Florida with 6,300 rooms, or approximately six percent of the total room inventory in Central Florida. His lodging portfolio includes seven properties in the Orlando area, including three convention hotels within one mile of the Orange County Convention Center — Rosen Plaza®, Rosen Centre® and Rosen Shingle Creek® — and four leisure hotels — Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando, Rosen Inn closest to Universal, Quality Inn International and the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista.

In his keynote address, Rosen said, “Lately, more entrepreneurs are understanding they have a responsibility to give back and be thankful for the blessings they’ve received. It’s a wonderful trend that is gaining momentum which is gratifying to see.”

Past recipients of the Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year award have included Lubna Olayan (2010), CEO of Olayan Financing Company, the holding company for Olayan Group’s operations in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East; Jay Walker (2009), founder of Priceline.com; Howard Milstein (2008), co-chairman, president and CEO of Emigrant Savings Bank and its holding company, New York Private Bank and Trust, and managing partner of Milstein Properties; Kevin McGovern (2007), CEO and Chairman of McGovern Capital and key shareholder in more than 15 companies.

For the last four years, Rosen has hosted a group of Cornell University students for “Alternative Spring Break” in which they spend one week in Orlando working with at-risk youth from the disadvantaged Tangelo Park neighborhood. The spring break program works hand-in-hand with Rosen’s Tangelo Park Program that he created in 1994 to benefit children and teens in the once drug- and crime-riddled neighborhood. Through the program, Rosen provides a free preschool education for all 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, and all Tangelo Park youth who are accepted to a vocational school, community college, junior college or a four-year public college in Florida receive a completely free education to include, tuition, books, room and board. Thus far, approximately 190 Tangelo Park students have received full college scholarships.

In 2009 and 2010, the Orlando Business Journal recognized Rosen as a “Healthcare Hero” and one of the area’s “Top 10 CEOs,” a recognition he has received for many years. In 2007, he was honored by readers of Orlando Magazine for making the “Best Contribution to Orlando” and as one of the area’s “Most Influential Executives.” He was also named “Best Corporate Citizen” by the magazine in 2006, 2007 and 2010.

Rosen received Sustainable Florida’s Legacy Award in 2010 for his environmental efforts and community contributions, the “Citizen of the Year” award by the Florida School Board Association in 2009 and numerous industry awards including being inducting into the Visit Florida “Tourism Hall of Fame” in 2010 and being named “Hotelier of the Year” by the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association in 2010.

Over the past 37 years, Rosen Hotels & Resorts® has grown from 256 to approximately 6,300 rooms, approximately six percent of the total guest rooms in Central Florida. Today, the Rosen family of hotels, which includes the AAA Four Diamond Rosen Shingle Creek®, the award-winning Rosen Centre® and Rosen Plaza®, and four leisure properties ideally located in the Orlando tourist corridor, including Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando, Rosen Inn, Quality Inn International and the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista, remain committed to providing outstanding value for all guests.

For more information, visit www.rosenhotels.com or call 866-33-ROSEN.

For more information on Entrepreneurship @ Cornell Celebration 2011, visit entrepreneurship.cornell.edu/activities/celebration/2011.