DePaul University is seeking applicants for the James L. Czech Scholarship, a new annual scholarship for undergraduate students enrolled in DePaul’s College of Commerce.

Students applying for the scholarship must be accepted into DePaul’s business undergraduate degree program, have a 2.5 overall grade point average, prove financial need, and be a U.S. citizen. Preference will be given to students of Polish descent who are first generation college students. One $1,800 scholarship will be awarded for the 1997-98 school year. The application deadline is June 13.

The sponsor of the scholarship, James L. Czech, graduated from DePaul with an accountancy degree in 1961. Today he is the executive vice president of Urban Shopping Centers, Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust that is a major developer of shopping mall properties in the Chicago area and nationally.

Czech, who grew up in a three-story walk-up apartment in the Polish neighborhood around Damen Avenue and Division Street, said he hasn’t forgotten what it was like to pay his own way through school to become the first member of his family to graduate from college. "DePaul was good to me," Czech said. "Now that I’m in a position to give something back, I want to provide other first generation students with a better opportunity to obtain a college degree."

For more information and applications, call DePaul University’s College of Commerce undergraduate office at (312) 362-5358.