Howard Alford Scholarship Awarded to Tech Students

By Tiffany Munson

Josh Burris and Betsy Deaton. Photo by Tiffany Munson

Established in 1974 by Plains Cotton Cooperative Association (PCCA), the Howard Alford Memorial Scholarship continues to help reward Texas Tech University students that have a growing interest in cotton. One of this year’s scholarship recipients is Betsy Deaton, a freshman agronomy major from Denver City, TX.

“I was raised on a farm, and my dad has grown cotton for as long as I can remember,” says Deaton. “I even drove the tractor sometimes.” Deaton says she hopes to become an agronomist someday to work with cotton, and the Howard Alford Scholarship is helping make her goal possible.

Josh Burris, a freshman agriculture and applied economics major from Wellman, TX, is also one of this year’s scholarship recipients. Burris comes from a cotton background and says he “wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Burris was delighted to receive the scholarship partly because both he and his father are members of PCCA.

“I farm one quarter of a section of land and it pays part of my way through college,” says Burris. The Alford scholarship endowment now totals $41,500. A committee comprised of faculty from all of Texas Tech’s agriculture departments select scholarship recipients based on GPA or ACT/SAT scores and their interest in the cotton industry.