Law school alumna creates scholarship for southwest Kansas students

LAWRENCE – A new scholarship fund at the University of Kansas School of Law will help provide opportunities to students from southwest Kansas.

Elizabeth Schartz has established the Elizabeth A. Schartz Law Scholarship with a $57,500 pledge to KU Endowment. The scholarship fund is intended to support students from less populated areas of the state, with a preference for students who live in or graduated high school in Finney, Ford, Gray or Hodgeman counties.

Schartz is a 1988 graduate of the KU School of Law. She grew up in Cimarron, a small town in Gray County, and graduated from Cimarron High School in 1981.

“I had the good fortune to know two KU Law graduates, Pat and Phil Ridenour, who practiced in Cimarron and greatly influenced my decision to attend KU Law. I also had the good fortune to receive a university scholarship my first year at the law school for graduates of high schools in Gray County,” she said.

Schartz said she was inspired to “pay forward” the opportunity she received by establishing a dedicated law school scholarship for students from rural counties, particularly for those from Gray County and the areas surrounding it.

“It’s my hope that this scholarship will in some small way reduce the financial burden on students from rural Kansas who are pursuing a law degree from the KU School of Law,” she said.

Schartz is a partner with Thompson & Knight law firm in Dallas, where she represents management in client counseling and litigation of employment and labor law matters. Prior to joining the firm, she completed a judicial clerkship with the Hon. James Logan on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Schartz is a member of the KU Endowment Board of Trustees and serves on the KU Endowment Governance Committee.

During her time at KU Law, Schartz was editor-in-chief of the Kansas Law Review and was named to the Order of the Coif and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. She served on KU Law’s Board of Governors from 2001-2004.

KU Endowment is the independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU.