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Dateline: 12/12/2005

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY NEWS RELEASE
Dale Goodwin, Director
Peter Tormey, Associate Director

Martino Gift to Benefit GU Leadership Students
Two Gonzaga University leadership students are benefiting from the Martino-Skillingstad Scholarship, a recently created fund that annually awards $5,000 each to a junior and a senior in the Comprehensive Leadership Program.

Recipients of the Martino-Skillingstad Scholarship must demonstrate a commitment to academic achievement, a strong Roman Catholic faith-life, and the capability of leading others through service, justice, faith and ethics.

Rocco Martino and his wife, Barbara, created this scholarship in honor of their longstanding friendship with Rev. Del Skillingstad, S.J., executive assistant to the academic vice president at Gonzaga. The Martinos have long been deeply interested in the training of Catholic leaders and assisting young people in leadership roles.

That made for a good match between the Martino family and Gonzaga’s undergradate Comprehensive Leadership Program. The CLP offers students the opportunity for valuable leadership experiences while obtaining their undergraduate degree. Launched in the spring of 2002, the CLP was not constructed as a major, or minor; rather, the certificate program is intended to complement students' existing academic goals.

Rev. Skillingstad first became acquainted with the Martinos while he was at the Gregorian University Foundation and the Pontifical University in Rome. His responsibilities included oversight of the purchase and installation of the first computers at the Pontifical Universities and his cooperation in doing the same at the headquarters of the Society of Jesus. Rocco Martino, creator of computer software/database systems and founder and chairman of the board of directors of CyberNet Group, became Rev. Skillingstad’s benefactor and mentor.

Rocco and Barbara Martino have four adult children, all of whom were educated in Jesuit schools. They live in Philadelphia, where they are very active in their church life. Gonzaga awarded Martino an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2000.

For more information, contact Rev. Skillingstad at (509) 323-6070.