Students will have access to a significant new scholarship fund in the UGA College of Engineering thanks to the generosity of Walton Electric Membership Corp.
The Walton EMC Engineering Leadership Scholarship Fund will provide five $10,000 awards annually to UGA engineering students who live in the utility’s 10-county service area in northeast Georgia.
Walton EMC established the scholarship program to recognize future engineering leaders and to retain local student engineering talent, according to Ronnie Lee, the company’s CEO.
“Cultivating good engineers is critical to every facet of our nation’s infrastructure,” said Lee, a 1969 graduate of UGA in agricultural engineering. “Our customer-owners expect—and rightly so—excellent electric service. Sound engineering is the foundation we build on to deliver that promise.”
The Walton EMC Engineering Leadership Scholarships are available to students currently enrolled in the College of Engineering as well as high school students who’ve been accepted into UGA as intended engineering majors. To be eligible for the scholarships, students must possess a cumulative GPA of 3.7 and they must maintain permanent residency in Walton EMC’s service area: Athens-Clarke, Barrow, DeKalb, Greene, Gwinnett, Morgan, Newton, Oconee, Rockdale and Walton counties.
The scholarships are renewable for up to four years as long as the recipient maintains a cumulative 3.7 GPA and remains enrolled in one of the eight Bachelor of Science degree programs offered by the UGA College of Engineering.
“I am extremely grateful for the generosity of Walton EMC in supporting our students at the College of Engineering,” said Donald J. Leo, the engineering college’s dean. “Partnerships like this are an essential component of our goal to attract and retain top engineering talent from across Georgia. Chairman Lee and his team have helped establish a meaningful scholarship program, which can serve as a template for other organizations with whom we partner.”