Col. Albert and Mary Sue Schutz of San Antonio have endowed a petroleum engineering scholarship at Texas A&M University.

“Our donation of $100,000 is to afford worthy students the opportunity to pursue their studies with financial support, enabling them to participate in a full college experience with their classmates,” said Schutz, Texas A&M Class of 1940, whose financial resources as an undergraduate left little time for anything but study and work.

Mary Sue and Col. Albert Schutz '40

“We are grateful to Col. and Mrs. Schutz for this investment in our undergraduates. Many of our students will be able to become Aggie petroleum engineers as a result of their generosity,” said Stephen A. Holditch, department head and holder of the Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation Endowed Chair.

Schutz and his twin brother, Charles, entered Texas A&M together, where they were members of the Corps of Cadets.

“Arriving in Aggieland, my brother and I each had only $125 that our widowed mother gave us. After classes, we worked to maintain the grounds, clean campus buildings, serve refreshments at sporting events - and to serve as waiters in the Corps mess hall. This effort greatly limited our opportunity to enjoy the full college experience,” Schutz recalled.

After graduation in 1940 with a bachelor’s degree in petroleum engineering, he embarked on a 30-year career in the U.S Army, retiring as a colonel in November 1970.

“The end of World War II found me in Austria where I was responsible for the support of refuges from Russia and Eastern Europe, including thousands of Jews who had survived the Holocaust and were striving to reach the newly established state of Israel,” Schutz said.

His foreign service also included U.S. Army headquarters in Panama and assignment to the Military Assistance Advisory Group, Vietnam, which was established after the withdrawal of French forces from Indochina.

Schutz’s service in the United States included various command assignments: the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; service in the Pentagon with the Army General Staff and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He attended the Army War College at Carlisle, Penn., simultaneously earning the Master of Arts degree in international affairs through a reciprocal arrangement with George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

After retiring from military service, Schutz served eight years in the Texas governor’s planning office in Austin.

“Col. and Mrs. Schutz’s gift is more than simply monetary. This scholarship will offer encouragement for young Aggies to achieve their goals for generations to come,” said John Small, director of development for engineering with the Texas A&M Foundation.

The Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M enrolled 592 undergraduates and 254 graduate student for the fall 2008 semester. U.S. News & World Report ranks the department first for undergraduate and second for graduate programs among the nation’s public universities.

By Exa York
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