Shidler College of Business receives $60,000 student travel endowment

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
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Posted: Jul 8, 2010

Ulrike and Toufiq Siddiqi recently donated $60,000 to establish The Ulrike and Toufiq Siddiqi Student Travel Endowment at the UH Mānoa Shidler College of Business to enhance students’ education and understanding of South and Southeast Asia.  The endowment will be used for airfare, meals, lodging, conference fees and research.
 
“We established this travel endowment for exceptional students who have the curiosity, but lack the financial resources to study abroad,” said Ulrike and Toufiq Siddiqi. “We want to encourage students to travel abroad so they can develop a better understanding of issues affecting South and Southeast Asia.”
 
“Ulrike and Toufiq have been longtime supporters of the College, giving annually since 1994,” said V. Vance Roley, dean of the Shidler College of Business. “Because of their research, educational initiatives and leadership activities in Asia and the Pacific, the Siddiqis truly understand the importance of studying abroad.  This travel endowment is a wonderful way to enrich students’ international perspective of the world we live in.”
 
“We are grateful to the Siddiqis for their generous support of higher education,” said UH Mānoa Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw. “The Ulrike and Toufiq Siddiqi Student Travel Endowment will provide students with an invaluable opportunity to learn and experience Asian business and culture first-hand.”
 
The Siddiqis came to the U.S. in 1967 via Germany, where Ulrike was born and raised.  Dr. Siddiqi joined the faculty at Indiana University, where he contributed to the founding of the Environmental Studies Program and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Ulrike pursued a successful career with PHIL Marc Inc., a medical facilities company, as comptroller and assistant administrator.
                                                                               
In 1977, the Siddiqis moved to Hawai‘i, where Dr. Siddiqi joined the East-West Center’s Environment Program.  He is currently an adjunct senior fellow in the research program at the East-West Center, and adjunct graduate faculty in the geography department at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. Previously, Dr. Siddiqi served as the regional advisor on energy at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) from 1995-97, in Bangkok, Thailand. He was a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.  He was also a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2007.  He was the first visiting senior fellow at the Global Environment Facility in Washington, D.C., working on climate change issues. In 1997, the Siddiqis co-founded Global Environment and Energy in the 21st Century (GEE-21), a non-profit research organization.
 
Dr. Siddiqi received a BA (Honours) from Trinity College, Cambridge University, England, and a doctorate in nuclear physics from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany.
 
In 1979, Ulrike enrolled in the Executive MBA program at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.  Soon after graduating in 1981, she pursued her entrepreneurial passion by investing with partners in Bakery Europa. The company was sold in 1990, but Ulrike stayed on as president of the firm’s real estate subsidiary, Europa Holdings Inc., through 2004.  In 1981, Ulrike joined the MBA Alumni Board and later assisted in the creation of the College’s first mentor program for graduate students. She also assisted in the merger of the undergraduate and MBA alumni groups into one Alumni Association, growing it to the largest in the UH system.  She continued to stay active in alumni/students relations until 2004.  Ulrike volunteers for the Friends of the East-West Center, and for the past 13 years for the Pan Pacific and Southeast Asia Women’s Association.  She has served as international treasurer on the council of the association since 2007.
 
If you are interested in supporting the Shidler College of Business or hearing more about current initiatives, contact Terry Wells, Assistant Vice President of Development, at (808) 956-4215 or Terry.Wells@uhfoundation.org