McCoy College of Business announces Barshop Endowed Chair position and Oles Endowed Scholarship

SAN MARCOS, Texas — The McCoy College of Business at Texas State University has announced a new endowed chair position named for the late Sam Barshop, founder of La Quinta Inns & Suites and former host of the college’s Studies in Entrepreneurship Speaker Series, and his wife Ann.

McCoy College Dean Sanjay Ramchander made the formal announcement to students and special guests at the conclusion of a Studies in Entrepreneurship course event on Tuesday, April 5.

The Sam and Ann Barshop Endowed Chair in Entrepreneurship will elevate what is currently the Sam Barshop Excellence Professor in Entrepreneurship. That professorship was founded in 2004 through an endowment funded by Barshop’s longtime business partner, Pat Oles; Barshop’s children, Bruce and Jamie Barshop (B.S., 1979); and approximately 40 of Barshop’s closest business associates. It was the first endowment received by the McCoy College of Business Foundation.

“It was always Mr. Barshop’s dream to have the endowed professorship elevated to an endowed chair. Because of the generosity of the Barshop family and Sam’s former business partner, Pat Oles, that dream is now becoming a reality,” said Dean Ramchander.

In addition, Bruce and Jamie Barshop announced an endowed scholarship honoring Oles. The establishment of the C. Patrick Oles Scholarship in Entrepreneurship was a surprise for Oles, who was in attendance. Oles holds the McCoy Professorship for Studies in Entrepreneurship and has been working with the Studies in Entrepreneurship class for 15 years, continuing Barshop’s legacy. Oles also previously served as a director on the McCoy College Foundation Board for six years.

The Oles Scholarship will be awarded to eligible undergraduate students enrolled in the McCoy College with a major in management and a concentration in entrepreneurship.

The college looks forward to filling the Barshop Endowed Chair faculty position as it becomes available following completion of the current term of the Barshop Professorship. The professorship is currently held by Dr. Taewon Suh of the Department of Marketing.

Sam Barshop held the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Chair in Entrepreneurship Studies at Texas State from 1999 to 2005. During that time, he hosted the Studies in Entrepreneurship class, making 168 trips to the San Marcos campus to bring 102 different speakers. Barshop donated his stipend back to the McCoy College so that student teams from several organizations could participate in regional and national competitions.

“His generosity touched the lives of thousands of McCoy College students and there is an entire ecosystem of Bobcat entrepreneurs who can trace their success to Sam Barshop,” said Dean Ramchander.

The announcement was attended by McCoy College students in the Studies in Entrepreneurship course and special guests, including the Barshop family, Texas State President Denise Trauth, Provost Gene Bourgeois, and Brian McCoy, CEO of McCoy’s Building Supply and McCoy College Foundation Board President. ✯

For more information on the Barshop Endowed Chair or the Oles Scholarship, email Twister Marquiss, manager of marketing and communications for the McCoy College of Business, at twister@txstate.edu.

About the McCoy College of Business

Established in 1970, Texas State’s business school officially became the McCoy College of Business in 2004 following a donation of $20 million by Emmett and Miriam McCoy. The college, which offers classes in both San Marcos and Round Rock, is accredited by AACSB in both business and accounting, and has graduated nearly 42,000 alumni.