Five outstanding business degree majors at the University of Texas Pan American in Edinburg have been awarded academic scholarships from the Insurance Council of Texas (ICT). The students, many of them first generation college graduates, were awarded $1,000 scholarships in ceremonies near the campus.

The UT Pan American scholarship recipients are Julia Maldonado, Sandy Salinas, Erika Marquez, Eric Leal and Sally Marie Balderas. The students' Insurance and Risk management professor Steve Lovell said all of the scholarship recipients were exemplary.

"Nothing has come easy for any of these students," said Lovell. "Most of the students support themselves by working on or off campus, yet they have excelled in their classes and in leadership roles. These young men and women will be successful wherever they wind up."

ICT has provided more than $300,000 to students and insurance and risk management programs in Texas over the past eight years. A recent survey showed at least one out of every three scholarship recipient found a job in the insurance industry.

The Insurance Council of Texas is the largest state insurance trade association in the country consisting of approximately 500 property and casualty insurers writing business in Texas. For more information to ICT's Web site at www.insurancecouncil.org.