Intercultural Affairs

For several years, the Office of Intercultural Affairs, under the leadership of Robert Owens, Senior Executive for Access, Belonging, and Community Outreach, and Marc Burnett, Former Vice President for Student Affairs, has been undertaking an effort to raise funds for scholarship support for students from under-represented groups at the University.  
 
The largest minority group at the University is the African American student population.  This group has traditionally been less than four percent of the overall student population and has never reached five percent.  The fall semester of 2017 saw the Hispanic student population reach its highest point to date, at 313 students or 2.98 percent of the overall student population. Consistent with a major aim of the University, this scholarship endowment is an effort to enhance the overall diversity of the student population.

Criteria

Any student who meets the following criteria will be eligible to receive a scholarship through this endowment:

• Must be a regularly admitted or current student in good standing in accordance with current institutional policies.
• Must be of African American, Hispanic, Asian, or other under-represented ethnic heritage.
• Preference will be given based upon the combined attributes of academic merit and financial need.
• Additional considerations may include participation in extra-curricular activities and leadership roles in social, athletic, civic and religious organizations.
• Preference will be given to incoming first-time freshmen.

 This scholarship is renewable.

For several years, the Office of Intercultural Affairs, under the leadership of Robert Owens, Senior Executive for Access, Belonging, and Community Outreach, and Marc Burnett, Former Vice President for Student Affairs, has been undertaking an effort to raise funds to establish scholarships to increase African American enrollment at Tennessee Tech University.  Thanks to the generosity of many university alumni and friends, sufficient funds have been raised to establish this quasi-endowment.

Tennessee Tech currently has an African American enrollment of 337 students (4%).  This group has traditionally been less than 4 percent of the overall student population and has never reached 5 percent.  Moreover, other minority groups (Hispanic, Asian, etc.) are represented in a statistically similar fashion.  Recognizing this, the Tennessee Tech Board of Trustees approved a Strategic Plan in March of 2018 that addressed the desire of the University to increase student diversity.  This scholarship helps accomplish this goal.

Criteria

Any student who meets the following criteria will be eligible to receive a scholarship through this endowment:

• Must be a regularly admitted or current student in good standing in accordance with current institutional policies.
• Must be of African American heritage.
• Preference will be given based upon the combined attributes of academic merit and financial need.
• Additional considerations may include participation in extra-curricular activities and leadership roles in social, athletic, civic and religious organizations.
• Preference will be given to incoming first-time freshmen.

This scholarship is renewable.