Giving the Texas Challenge Twice the Impact

The memory of his first Texas friends moves one international alumnus to help future students

By Judie Kinonen

A young woman in a wedding dress sits next to a young man in a white tuxedo, with an older couple standing behind them.
Chester Liu, MBA ’68, says his horizons were broadened with the help of Amy and Darrell Jackson who opened their home to him during his time at UT. To help others broaden their horizons, Liu has endowed a Texas Challenge scholarship.

Memories of a friendship forged more than 50 years ago inspired Chester Liu, MBA ’68, to endow a Texas Challenge scholarship.

Texas Challenge matches new gifts over $100,000, doubling the impact on high-potential McCombs students who come from low- to medium-income families.

“I want students to broaden their horizons, just as I was able to,” Liu says. Born into a family of Chinese immigrants in Taiwan, Liu says he learned early the importance of families helping one another access education for their children. His own scholarship to UT came from a U.S. chemical company.

Liu had been in Austin only two weeks when he arrived at his host family’s house and discovered taped to the front door a bag of peanuts and a welcome note from Amy and Darrell Jackson. The Jacksons had volunteered as part of a program to open their home to international students.

Darrell, a retired lawyer turned rancher, and Amy, a retired artist, took Liu on trips, invited him to church services, and engaged him in dialogues on philosophy. Amy even taught him how to drive.

“Their understanding, compassion, and open-mindedness provided us with lots of conversations, without boundaries,” Liu says. “Amy Jackson had higher expectations of me than my own mother back in Taiwan.”

Liu retired in 2002 as vice president of systems development for Automatic Data Processing in Jersey City, New Jersey. Looking for a way to instill confidence in future generations of McCombs students, he established an endowed scholarship by directing the required minimum distribution from his IRA to the university.

Many of the scholarship recipients are first-generation college students from South Texas. “When I heard the many stories about the potential of students from the Rio Grande Valley, I wanted to provide the same opportunity to them as was provided to me,” Liu says.

He knows firsthand what a little help from friends can do.

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