Michigan Tech Receives $100,000 from General Motors Foundation

The General Motors Foundation has given Michigan Technological University a $100,000 grant through its University/Organization Partner Program. The gift will support a variety of student activities, including the Advanced Hybrid Electric Vehicle and Advanced Motorsports Enterprises, Environmental Engineering senior design programs, student groups and diversity initiatives.

Steve Tomaszewski, GM’s global facilities director of operations North America, presented a check to President Glenn Mroz at a ceremony on October 30, 2014, at the J. Robert Van Pelt and John and Ruanne Opie Library.

“The GM Foundation grant is symbolic of our dedication to the next generation of leaders and innovators,” said Tomaszewski. “By supporting higher education programs, we’re ensuring these students receive the necessary knowledge and skills to compete in a global marketplace.”

Through the University/Organization Partner Program, the GM Foundation annually grants $3 million to support leading universities and partnering organizations across the country. The program aims to strengthen higher education curricula in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and other fields important to the automotive industry, with a goal of preparing more students to graduate with related degrees. The funds also support design and manufacturing degree programs, diversity initiatives, student organizations, and career development resources.

“Year after year, the GM Foundation has supported our students in hands-on projects and collaborative work,” said President Mroz. “These are key to students expanding their knowledge and developing their skills both in and out of the classroom.  Student work on projects like these are the reasons why our student's resumes move to the top of the pile and why their starting salaries are among the highest in the nation for public universities.  It’s visionaries like the GM Foundation who know that their help guides the future of higher education, and we are grateful for their support.”

A significant portion of the GM Foundation grant goes to support diversity programming on campus.

"Michigan Tech appreciates the GM Foundation’s dedication to diversity and their commitment to helping us implement programming that helps women and minorities to excel as leaders,” said Jill Hodges, director of the Office of Institutional Equity. “It is a critical component through which educational opportunities abound. It is through engaging with diversity that we gain a better understanding of the world around us, which then has potential to increase creativity, agility and global understandings and to develop new solutions to difficult problems.”

Michigan Tech, General Motors and the GM Foundation have had a long-standing partnership dating back to at least 1940, supporting a wide range of activities across campus including scholarships, Senior Design and Enterprise programs, student organizations, sponsored research, recruiting support, youth programs, diversity initiatives and more.

About the General Motors Foundation
Since its inception in 1976, the GM Foundation has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to American charities, educational organizations and to disaster relief efforts worldwide. The GM Foundation focuses on supporting Education, Health and Human Services, the Environment and Community Development initiatives, mainly in the communities where GM operates. Funding of the GM Foundation comes solely from GM. The last contribution to the GM Foundation was made in 2001.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan’s flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.