ISSUED: 7 April 2017
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University received a $2,500 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics grant from the FirstEnergy Foundation to support outreach activities in the School of Natural Science and Mathematics. The check was recently presented by FirstEnergy representative Charlene Gilliam to Dr. Colleen Nolan, dean of the school, and Monica Lingenfelter, executive vice president of the Shepherd University Foundation.
“I’m very excited about receiving funding from the FirstEnergy Foundation,” Nolan said. “This is the first grant of this type given to a college or university in this region, and it recognizes how Shepherd is a leader in outreach and education in the Eastern Panhandle.”
Nolan said the money will be used to help increase awareness of environmental issues and increase the STEM pipeline, especially environmental engineering, by encouraging school-age children to pursue training in the sciences.
Gillem said it benefits FirstEnergy to support educational endeavors like those offered at Shepherd.
“Our industry uses a lot of engineers, so we want to promote anything we can to grow our workforce by promoting student interest in engineering and STEM because that helps us in the long run,” Gillem said.
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