At the Sept. 20 football game against the University of Maine, the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) Chief Administrative Officer, Brent Stubbs, presented University President Kyle Marrero with a $100,000 donation to establish a new engineering scholarship.
Interim Dean of the College, Dr. Rami Haddad, provided more information on the scholarship and spoke on the university’s partnership with Hyundai.
With Georgia Southern University relatively close to the Hyundai Metaplant, both organizations were eager to collaborate on ways to engage GSU students in an industrial setting.
“It’s actually building the talent they [students] need to make sure they can progress in their mission,” said Haddad.
The scholarship is intended to help local students in the Metaplant’s surrounding counties and promote their success in pursuing a degree within the Allen E. Paulson College of Engineering and Computing.
“This specific scholarship is tailored to support students that are within the region—Effingham, Bulloch, Bryan, and Chatham County—alleviating the financial burden from students,” Haddad said, “allowing them to focus more on their education and increase their chances of being successful.”
The scholarship will be available to both incoming and returning students in the College of Engineering, but the amount awarded per scholarship has not been decided yet.
“I don’t think we have ironed out the details of how much the scholarship will be per student,” said Haddad, “but that’s something that I know my Associate Deans are working on currently.”
The scholarship is part of an ongoing initiative with HMGMA, which has provided internships and co-ops to Georgia Southern students over the past few months. The $100,000 donated was, in itself, a nod to the over 100 GSU alumni employed by the company.
“I think they’ve been extremely happy with the students they have been able to work with,” Haddad said, “and that’s what’s enticing them to recruit more of our students and support our students. They see the return on investment in that regard.”
Haddad is excited about the doors this donation will open for students in the area, as well as the continuing partnership between Georgia Southern and HMGMA.
“I think this is the first step moving forward with an ever-evolving relationship with the company,” he said.
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