The College Fund/UNCF and Coca-Cola Enterprises recently announced the establishment of the UNCF/CCE Corporate Scholars Program, a three-year, $1.2 million project that will provide scholarships and internships to African American and Hispanic students.
Fourteen students were chosen to participate in the eight-to-10 week paid internship program. The students are working on industry projects under the guidance of corporate mentors at Coca-Cola Enterprises facilities in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Memphis, Tenn., and Montgomery, Ala.
The second-semester sophomores, who are pursuing degrees in finance, human resources, marketing and sales management, also will receive a $5,000 scholarship in addition to the salaries from the internships.
“I am extremely excited about this partnership with Coca-Cola Enterprises, which will provide students with a wonderful opportunity to obtain vital financial assistance and gain hands-on experience with leading … industry executives,” William H. Gray III, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, says.
For more information: contact Ryan W. McDay of the UNCF at (703) 205-3454; or Laura Asman of Coca-Cola Enterprises at (770) 989-3023.
Mississippi Valley State University will offer a new master’s degree in bioinformatics beginning in the fall of 2001.
The degree program will combine cutting-edge technologies in genetics, molecular biology and chemistry with advances in parallel computing, computer modeling and database management. It is designed to help graduates find employment in medical facilities, research laboratories and pharmaceutical, biotech and agricultural companies.
The university has signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Agriculture Research Services in Stoneville, Miss., to design requirements for the program. According to the terms of the memorandum, the university agrees to provide graduate students for internships and possible future employment opportunities at the USDA-ARS laboratories in Stoneville. All parties agree to assign technical and personnel support. Aside from providing curriculum development to the university, the USDA-ARS cooperative will supply genetic data to the Mississippi Valley State faculty and allow the historically Black institution to use the cooperative’s equipment and staff as guest lecturers.
Final approval for the program is expected this month from the university’s educational board. For more information: contact Michael D. Porter, assistant professor of biology, at (662) 254-3383.
DePaul University is now offering a course of study called The Black Metropolis: The Last Half Century. The course will investigate Bronzeville, a section of Chicago that was once considered a cradle of Black heritage. The project officially begins when the university begins classes in September.
The one-year course of study consists of three classes. The first looks at the growth of Bronzeville from 1890 to 1950 in relation to the great migration of African Americans from the rural South to the industrialized North. The second class examines the growth of the area’s Black middle class from 1950 to 1975. The final segment examines the period from 1975 to 2000, focusing on the election of Chicago’s first Black mayor and the reasons for the current expansion of housing renovation in the area. Each class is worth four hours of college credit.
Students in this summer’s five-week pilot program are working on an oral history project that involves researching the legacy of Hall Library, the first historically Black public library in Chicago.
For more information, contact Theodoric Manley Jr. at (773) 325-2489.
— Compiled by Eric St. John
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
