Date: 10/05/2006

Contact: Pat Lopes Harris at 408-924-1166

The San José State University Tower Foundation has named SJSU alumna Connie Lurie as the recipient of its 2006 Tower Award. The university's highest honor, the award is presented annually to a graduate, faculty member or community leader for his or her service to the university. La Torre ("The Tower") is the oldest building on SJSU's campus and the symbolic heart of the university.

"I am pleased to present Connie Lurie with this award in recognition of her many contributions to the university," said President Don W. Kassing. "Her dedication to SJSU and her generosity with her time and resources support many programs that are improving the lives of individual students as well as the university community as a whole."

Lurie's projects include funding a permanent endowment for SJSU's Lurie Author-in-Residence Program, which brings nationally and internationally known authors to campus for up to two semesters. Past participants include Molly Giles ("Iron Shoes"), James D. Houston ("Farewell to Manzanar") and Simon Winchester ("The Professor and the Madman").

Lurie also helped establish the Connect, Motivate and Educate Society, which assists SJSU students who were once foster children. In Southern California, she initiated Spartans in the Desert, an annual alumni event in Palm Springs.

Lurie graduated from SJSU in 1964 with a bachelor's degree in elementary education and psychology. A former school teacher, she is married to Robert Lurie, president and chairman of San Francisco real estate development firm Lurie Company, and a former owner of the San Francisco Giants.

In addition to her contributions to SJSU, the Luries are major supporters of the Sesame Workshop, the University of California at San Francisco, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute, and the San Francisco Zoo, where the Connie and Bob Lurie Education Center serves hundreds of thousands of children annually.

Connie Lurie will be the guest of honor at the 37th Annual Tower Award dinner on Thursday, October 12. Tickets are $150. For more information, please call 408-924-7787.

View and download a photo of Connie Lurie.

Offering rigorous coursework and research opportunities in 134 areas of study, San José State is Silicon Valley's largest institution of higher learning with 30,000 students and 2,400 faculty and staff members. SJSU is part of the California State University system, the nation's largest senior system of higher education. SJSU's 154-acre downtown campus anchors the nation's 10th largest city.