UNCF Gets $1 Million From Lockheed Martin for Tech Campaign

Washington
The Lockheed Martin Corporation donated $1 million to the United Negro College Fund/UNCF last month in support of UNCF's $80 million Technology Enhancement Capital Campaign. Vance D. Coffman, chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin, presented William H. Gray III, UNCF president, with a check for $1 million dollars during a luncheon in Washington, D.C. The award brings the campaign to a total of $65 million raised since the spring of this year, according to UNCF officials.
"We've spent $64 million already on our 39 member schools in building up their [information] technology infrastructures," Gray noted after the award presentation. The campaign was announced in March.
Coffman says Lockheed Martin, an aerospace manufacturer and technology services firm, is eager to hire technology-proficient UNCF member-school graduates to help meet the firm's employment objectives.
"From our standpoint, the Technology Enhancement Capital Campaign comes at precisely the right time. Investing in UNCF institutions is one important way we of the current generation can contribute to the American dream of tomorrow's generation," Coffman says.
Gray explained that a number of UNCF schools had in recent years fallen far behind by not having an adequate information technology base. He says the campaign has brought those schools up to basic IT standards. Other schools, such as Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, N.C., had advanced IT infrastructures and have been able to upgrade existing resources. The campaign has assisted UNCF schools primarily with new equipment and services; and faculty and student training to infuse technology into the curricula. 
The campaign also has enabled UNCF to develop an e-commerce Web site that offers computers and software to UNCF students, staff and faculty at discounted prices.
Dr. Dorothy C. Yancy, president of Johnson C. Smith University, says campaign funding has allowed faculty members to expand their Web-based course offerings as well as helping the school make equipment upgrades. Johnson C. Smith is one of the first HBCUs to require laptop ownership by its students.
The UNCF e-commerce site can be viewed at http://www.uncf.com.