December 13, 2006

For more information, contact: Southwest at (901) 333-4024 or 4116

TVA Honors Southwest with Grant in SUPPORT OF the Mechanical Engineering Technology Program
Release written by Kimberly Kreider

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) will be presenting Southwest Tennessee Community College (Southwest) with a $5,000 grant to assist low-income high school juniors and seniors, including female and minority students, in earning college credits leading to technology certificates and associate degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering Technology. The grant will pay tuition and fees for high school students who enroll in college credit courses through Southwest’s joint enrollment program.

The grant will assist the Business, Career Studies and Technologies Department to work with high schools to encourage students to participate in the joint enrollment program. The Mechanical Engineering Technologies joint enrollment program was developed in collaboration with Kingsbury High School in the 1990s, as has expanded more recently to serve high school students throughout Memphis City Schools, Shelby County Schools, and Fayette County Schools.

This current TVA grant is an expansion of a project funded for the past two years by TVA. The initial grant provided the cutting-edge PCPresenter and NetOp software that Southwest used to pilot successful distance-learning courses in Mechanical Engineering. The 2005 and 2006 grants both provide direct assistance to low-income high school students who wish to explore careers in Engineering Technologies. These grants all reflect TVA’s strong commitment to and support for public education in technical fields.

“TVA proudly supports the local Memphis community and is partnering with Southwest to provide this donation,” said TVA Allen Fossil Plant manager, Louis Lee. “We are glad to help make joint enrollment technical courses more accessible to all high school students in this region.” The Allen Fossil Plant historically includes graduates of the Southwest Mechanical Engineering Technologies programs in its hiring efforts.

The grant check presentation to the College is on Tuesday, December 12 at 1:30 p.m. in a ceremony in the President’s office on the Union Avenue Campus “We are delighted to have TVA as a corporate partner with Southwest,” said Dr. Nathan L. Essex, President. “Over the last several years their contributions to the College have enabled us to continue assisting high school students in their educational endeavors.”

TVA’s Corporate Contributions program supports public education that emphasizes learning activities associated with energy and environmental education as well as vocational and technical education in skill areas that are vital to TVA’s workforce. TVA’s objective is to support institutions that educate and train individuals with the skills TVA will need in the future, and the skills that industries being recruited into the Valley Region will need.