For the 50th year, Hispanic Alumni scholarships will be awarded to HPU students on Saturday, September 19, 2026, on the second floor of the Mabee Center.

The scholarships will be awarded by the Hispanic Alumni Fellowship in celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, which was begun by former president Ronald Reagan in 1988.

The Fellowship was founded by HPU alum, Dr. Juan Andrade ('70), who endowed the Dr. Jose Rivas Memorial Scholarship in 1975. Andrade is the only HP graduate known to have received a medal from the President of the United States "for the performance of exemplary deeds of service for the nation." Since 1974, when the Deborah Renee Camacho Scholarship was endowed, seven Hispanic alumni scholarship funds have been established to award thousands of dollars annually to Hispanic students attending Howard Payne.