RMA Scholarship Links
To give away money is an easy matter ... and in any man's power. But to decide to whom to give it, and how large and when, for what purpose and how, is neither in every man's power nor an easy matter. Hence it is that such excellence is rare, praiseworthy and noble. ~Aristotle
Scholarships for RMA and APPA Training
In 2002 Rocky Mountain APPA (RMA) established policies, procedures, and guidelines for the award of scholarships for APPA’s Leadership Academy (the Academy) and Institute for Facilities Management (the Institute).
RMA supports the professional development of the employees of its member institutions. The professional development of personnel in the field of facilities (operations, maintenance, design, construction, etc.) is essential to ensure that the employee can continue to meet the challenges and take advantage of the opportunities available in providing facility services to the institution. RMA believes this professional development can be achieved through a wide variety of activities, two of which are the Academy and the Institute.
RMA is currently committed to providing a scholarship for tuition to the Academy and four scholarships for tuition to the Institute. The number and value of the scholarships to both the Academy and the Institute can be changed by a majority vote of the Board of Directors (the Board) of RMA.
In addition to the scholarships provided by RMA, the national organization, APPA, also provides scholarships to both the Academy and the Institute. APPA currently provides one scholarship for tuition to the Academy and two scholarships for tuition to the Institute.
Guidelines for Selection of APPA Institute and Academy Scholarship Recipients
The RMA scholarships and the recommendation for the APPA scholarships are awarded on a majority vote of the Board. Members of the Board cannot vote on the scholarship application of any individual from their respective institution. Factors for selection of scholarship recipients:
- Financial need as explained by the recommending supervisor.
- Special consideration will be given to women, minorities and disabled applicants.
- A single institution may have no more than one scholarship awarded for the Institute and the Academy per year*(per cycle) unless there are no other applications submitted for the Institute or Academy.
- Awards will only be made to an individual whose institution holds current membership in both RMA and APPA.
- Preference will be given to individuals who have previously completed at least one track of the Institute for Facilities Management.
- Applicant must complete the Institute for Facilities Management prior to receiving a scholarship to the Leadership Academy.
- Applicant must have addressed on his/her application the following:
- Demonstrated commitment to the facilities profession (can be shown by work/membership on local, regional and/or national/international professional organizations associated with facilities; i.e., SCUP, IFMA, BOMA, APE).
- Progressive career development within the profession (can be shown by job history, education, training, etc.).
- Potential for future career development (normally shown by endorsement from immediate supervisor and/or administrative/executive supervisor at the institution).
Procedure for Scholarship Application:
- Download the scholarship application here. (Word, PDF)
- Applications must be completed, sent and received by the Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee by February 15th of each year. Applicants are encouraged to type the application.
- Any applications received after this date will be returned to the sender and the sender will be encouraged to reapply for the following year. Applications may be sent either by fax, regular mail or e-mail.
Procedure for Scholarship Application Review:
- The Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee will provide a list of all applicants to the Secretary and the Chair of the Membership Committee who will check to ensure that the applicants are from a member institution of both RMA and APPA and that the applicant has not received a prior scholarship.
- The Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee will review all applications upon receipt for completeness and contact any applicant whose application is incomplete within one week after the closing date for receipt of applications (February 15). The applicant will have one week to provide all missing or incomplete information. If the applicant does not provide the necessary information within this time frame the application will be returned without action and the applicant will be encouraged to apply in the next year.
- The Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee will make sufficient copies of all complete applications and forward one copy of each application to each member of the Board for their review prior to the mid-year Board meeting. Each Board member is responsible for bringing their copies of the applications to the mid-year Board meeting. It is preferred to share these documents digitally to save paper.
- The Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee will conduct that portion of the mid-year Board meeting dedicated to the selection of scholarship recipients. Recipients will be selected by majority vote of the Board.
- The Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee will be responsible for counting the ballots, the formal written notification of the award of the scholarships to the recipient, the recipient’s supervisor and forwarding the recommendation for the APPA scholarships to the appropriate personnel at APPA Headquarters.
- The Secretary/Treasurer will be responsible for all financial details involved with the scholarship award.
- The Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee will return the applications to all of the applicants not selected for the scholarships and encourage the applicant to apply again for the following year.
- The Board encourages the scholarship recipients to use their scholarship in the year they awarded. If the scholarship is not used within two years then the recipient will lose the scholarship and have to re-apply ( i.e., scholarship awarded in March 2000 must be used by the end of September 2002).
- A Scholarship to attend the Academy will be offered to the Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee prior to screening any applications for the scholarship to the Academy. If the Chair of the Awards & Recognition Committee cannot or does not want to attend the Academy then the applications for the Academy will be screened in accordance with the above procedures and two scholarships will be awarded (one from RMA and one from APPA).
Scholarship Awards:
- The Board will award four separate scholarships for tuition and recommend to APPA two separate scholarships for tuition for the Institute each year.
- The Board will award a scholarship for tuition and recommend to APPA a scholarship for tuition to the Academy each year.
- An individual may receive only one scholarship from either RMA or APPA for any purpose (attend either the Institute or Academy).
- Scholarship recipients will be encouraged to:
- Write an article for either the Facility Manager Magazine or RMA Web Site or both.
- Become the state/province representative (correspondent) for the RMA Web Site.
- Be a presenter at either the national educational conference or the annual regional conference within two years of award of the scholarship.
- Become more involved in either RMA or APPA; national committee member, regional officer, etc.