After making their own way, the Pittmans pay it forward

When Sandy and Les Pittman ‘74 think about Texas A&M University, what comes to mind is hard work. Like many students today, Les and Sandy worked, usually full time, to pay for their education. Understanding the hardships and sacrifice that come with working and attending school inspired them to establish the Sandy and Les Pittman ’74 and Pittman Family Endowed Scholarship.

“We both put ourselves through school and missed a lot of opportunities as students because of that,” said Les. “Reflecting on that experience really directed our giving because we wanted students to have these opportunities without the financial burden.”

The Sandy and Les Pittman ’74 and Pittman Family Endowed Scholarship serves as an endowed fund to provide at least two scholarships to full-time students in good standing at Texas A&M who are pursuing a degree in civil engineering. The gift was given to the Texas A&M Foundation to benefit the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering in 2014 but was altered in 2017 to focus on students in rural communities.

The Pittmans both grew up in Victoria, Texas, where, according to Les, growing up outside of city limits presented academic challenges. Students in rural areas don’t always have access to quality educational resources or scholarship opportunities, which is something that motivated the Pittmans to alter the original scholarship to focus on students in these communities.

“I think one thing that was always in the back of my mind after we did the original agreement was to change the giving focus to where we grew up,” Sandy said. “I think students tend to know about scholarships in bigger areas, so we wanted to give it back to students who had kind of grown up as we had, and had known those challenges.”

Les pursued a civil engineering degree at Texas A&M while Sandy attended Victoria College and later received a degree in home economics with a specialization in family ecology from Texas State University. She went on to become a pre-school teacher and later a full-time volunteer for the Eanes Independent School District. After graduation, Les worked in a variety of project management roles within the civil engineering industry. Les also became an established entrepreneur, working with a partner to create a commercial land development firm in Austin Texas, and later acting as a principal investor in a Houston based civil engineering consulting firm.

Les now serves as an associate professor of practice in the department and enjoys the mentorship aspect that comes with his teaching role. Raising two sons, Kyle ’01 and Jared ’03, has given the Pittmans a greater appreciation of the impact of financial assistance in college and allowed them to watch their endowment benefit the department in numerous ways.

“We’ve always preferred that the endowment serve two students each year if possible,” said Les. “I think Texas A&M is definitely a special place. We’ve gotten to meet and get to know the students, such as one of our recent scholarship recipients who is active duty military, and it’s a great thing to be able to help them.”