Tri-County Technical College Will Award up to 20 Scholarships
To Engineering Graphics and Computer Technology Majors

CONTACT: SHAWNA LLOYD, EXT. 2121

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 8/18/2000

PENDLETON --- Tri-County Technical College will award up to 20 scholarships to engineering graphics and computer technology majors beginning this year.

Earlier this year Tri-County and Florence Darlington Technical College received a joint $109,576 award from the National Science Foundation through the Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics Scholars (CSEM) Initiative. This initiative is designed to increase the number of students, especially women and minorities, who successfully graduate from engineering or computer technology associate degree programs, said Shawna Lloyd, an instructor in the College's Industrial and Engineering Technology Division. "Both colleges have the same need - to recruit and graduate more students in the technology fields," said Mrs. Lloyd.

The College began awarding the scholarships, valued up to $2,500 each, this fall, and others will be available in spring of 2001. Scholarships will pay for tuition and books.

To be eligible for a CSEM scholarship, students must apply for and receive a Pell grant. In addition, students must be enrolled or plan to enroll full time in a computer technology or engineering technology degree program and maintain a 2.5 GPA and full-time enrollment status. Applicants will be interviewed by the CSEM scholarship team.

The CSEM scholarship can offer someone who wants to go to college full time the opportunity to do so, said Mrs. Lloyd. "Traditionally the engineering technologies have been male-dominated fields. This scholarship seeks to diversify this field by focusing strongly on providing financial assistance to individuals, such as women and minorities, who traditionally have not entered the engineering technologies."

Upstate job opportunities for engineering technology graduates are endless, and salaries for recent grads average $30,000 annually, she said.

For more information, contact Mrs. Lloyd by e-mail at slloyd@tctc.edu or at Ext. 2121 at one of these numbers: Anderson County, 225-2250; Oconee County -- 882-4412; Pickens County -- 859-7033; or Clemson/Anderson/Pendleton -- 646-8361. Persons who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled should call TDD/VOICE 1-800-735-2905.
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