8/29/02

BIRMINGHAM MAN ENDOWS SCHOLARSHIP FOR MINORITY ENGINEERS

AUBURN -- A $20,000 gift by a Birmingham civil engineer is being used to provide an annual scholarship to minority students majoring in engineering at Auburn University.

Willie T. Grant has established the Seeds of Love/Willie T. Grant Scholarship Award with AU, through a fund at The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham.

The scholarship will be awarded annually to an Auburn student or incoming student, preferably an African-American, who exhibits scholastic excellence and participates in AU's BellSouth Minority Engineering Program.

Grant, an engineering graduate of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, says his philanthropic interest in helping minorities in engineering stems from his life experiences.

"I decided to become an engineer back in the 1950s," Grant said. "It wasn't a common choice or an easy one for a black youth. Today, I look back on a successful career with gratitude for the doors that were opened to me in order to make my career possible. Yet the need still exists to encourage young African-Americans' interest in areas such as engineering."

Before deciding to create the scholarship award for Auburn students, Grant reviewed engineering academic support programs at several universities. He said Auburn's demonstrated commitment to the academic success of minority engineers through the BellSouth Minority Engineering Program was key to his eventual choice.

"To have an accomplished and respected engineer, with no real connection to Auburn University, endorse our retention efforts by providing scholarships to successful students is a great honor," says Dennis Weatherby, assistant dean of engineering for minority affairs and director of the BellSouth Minority Engineering Program. "Mr. Grant's generosity is greatly appreciated and will help BMEP participants better navigate the financial issues associated with funding a college education."

Grant's scholarship is designed to give a boost to the next generation. "I hope in a few years, we'll see someone receiving a scholarship who has the makings of a Booker T. Washington or George Washington Carver," Grant said. "Others paid the price for us to build on their careers. I hope this will help create a new generation of minority engineers."

The first Seeds of Love/Willie T. Grant Scholarship Award will be given for the current academic year.

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CONTACT: Weatherby, 334-844-2331.