Home : Volume 31 : Spring 2005 :
GIFT REPORT 2005: Engineering diversity

In 1997, with encouragement from chemical engineering alumnus R. Fenton-May (MS '68, PhD '71), then director of operations development at The Coca-Cola Company, The Coca-Cola Foundation targeted $50,000 toward UW-Madison scholarships that support minority undergraduate engineering students from Atlanta.

Clyde Jones is evidence that the foundation's investment paid off. Jones, an African-American student who earned a BS degree in electrical engineering in December 2004, is now working for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office as a patent examiner. He first "attended" UW-Madison via the college's Engineering Summer Program, which helps high-school students of color develop the contacts and skills they need to succeed as engineering undergraduates. "It allowed me to realize that I could be successful in Madison," says Jones. "And the people I met there made me feel comfortable."

So when the opportunity arose to receive a scholarship funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, Georgia-native Jones eagerly packed his bags and moved north. And while the scholarship enabled Jones to work less, study more and graduate from college virtually debt-free, he says it also motivated him to adhere to a high academic standard. "They put their faith in us and supported students to venture out and take a risk in some way, and to encourage academic experiences and academic exploration," he says. "And that's what it's all about — finding out what you can do in life, how you can be successful, how you can be a positive member of society, how you can contribute best to your community or your school or your neighborhood. College helped me find that out."

Jones says the benefits of industry investment in education are great. "I feel that it is important that other companies follow suit or continue to support programs to bring diverse students to places that aren't that diverse, because a student that's coming from a different place learns a lot more when they get put into a different environment," he says. "But I feel it works the other way around in that the school or community that receives those diverse students benefits by getting exposed to new people and new ideas."

Content by perspective@engr.wisc.edu

Date last modified: Wednesday, 25-May-2005 10:30:05 CDT
Date created: 25-May-2005

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