Rolls-Royce Awards Two Scholarships to PEER Engineering Students at Clemson
November 7, 2008
CLEMSON, SC – November 7, 2008 – The Clemson University College of Engineering and Science has received a gift of $120,000 for two multi-year engineering scholarships for students who participate in PEER, Programs for Educational Enrichment and Retention. The gift is from Rolls-Royce North America Inc.
The Rolls-Royce Annual Scholarship Program is designed to support undergraduate scholarships for qualified students majoring in four-year engineering programs.
“We are thrilled Rolls-Royce has invested in this important scholarship program with Clemson University,” said Esin Gulari, dean of the College of Engineering and Science. “Our talented and deserving students, the world’s future engineers, will be the beneficiaries of this very generous program.”
“As a leading global employer of engineers, Rolls-Royce has a long history of supporting engineering education around the world,” said John Gill, executive vice president of human resources for Rolls-Royce in North America. “Creating this new Rolls-Royce Scholarship Program at Clemson is an ideal way to expand our support for engineering education here in the U.S. It also enables us to honor exceptional engineering undergraduates at this important nationally recognized university.”
The award-winning PEER program celebrated 20 years at Clemson in 2007 and has successfully navigated thousands of students through the college experience. PEER serves all African-American and Hispanic/Latino-American students in the College of Engineering and Science, providing a variety of services that include an innovative proactive mentoring program, the Math Excellence Workshop, the PEER/WISE Study Hall, personal and academic counseling and community service to promote leadership skills.
“Thank you to Rolls-Royce for its tremendous generosity,” said PEER director Sue Lasser. “Its foresight in recognizing and helping these talented engineering students will result in life-long benefits.”
The Rolls-Royce Scholarship program begins in spring 2009 and runs through spring 2012. The scholarships will be offered to two sophomores who meet rigorous academic and other eligibility criteria defined by the university. Recipients must be PEER participants.
Those selected will receive $5,000 in annual scholarship support in each of their sophomore, junior and senior years as long as the recipients remain in good standing with the school, maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average and demonstrate good progress toward completing their degree program.
PEER program highlights:
Math Excellence Workshop: These students in the workshop outperform other students in their summer mathematics classes and graduate in science, technology, engineering and mathematic majors at a significantly increased rate.
Sneak Preview: In the primary recruiting event for PEER, high school students get a “sneak peak” at university life and attend classes. Eighty percent of participants go on to attend Clemson.
WISE: Originally an outgrowth of PEER, WISE (Women in Engineering and Science) encourages girls and women to consider technical majors.
For more information go to: http://www.clemson.edu/newsroom/articles/2008/november/rollsroyce.php5.
