Latest multi-million donation to N.C. A&T will go to its new equity initative
N.C. A&T will use its latest multi-million corporate donation to support its new equity program.
The university announced Monday that it received a $2.1 million donation from 3M, the Fortune 500 company based in Minnesota that makes more than 60,000 products for the safety, industrial health care, transportation, electronics and consumer markets.
A&T said it will put the donation toward two projects within its new Equity in Education Initiative, which it formed late last year to increase the number of Black graduates in engineering and business.
Slightly more than half of the 3M donation will go toward a leadership project within A&T’s College of Engineering to help prepare graduates for careers in engineering. A&T will use the remaining $1 million for a program to improve academic achievement among black male students in the Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics.
“We are committed to producing graduates who are fully prepared to address the challenges and economic needs of our world,” Chancellor Harold Martin said in a statement released by A&T. “This contribution from 3M is not only an investment in the education of our students, but also a statement about the value of a diverse workforce.”
This latest donation pushes the total committed A&T’s Equity in Education Initiative to $7.5 million. A&T launched this project in November with a $5 million donation from Walmart. Corning Inc. earmarked $500,000 of its $5.5 million donation announced in January for the equity initiative.
A&T said it will take three semesters, starting in the current spring term, to fully roll out the new equity initiative. The university said the program will help minority students graduate on time and with less debt, prepare them better for business or engineering careers and expand social and economic mobility of these A&T graduates.
Source: greensboro.com
