Toyota Motor Manufacturing makes $300,000 donation to North Carolina A&T State University for Engineering Scholarships

July 15, 2005 -- Greensboro, NC -- Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, Inc. announced a $300,000 gift to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University that will provide scholarship opportunities for its College of Engineering.

Toyota will provide the University $300,000 over the next three years to fund scholarships for students majoring in engineering and computer science.

"North Carolina A&T provides us with top-notch, highly skilled minority graduates," said Wilbert James, Vice President of Manufacturing for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, Inc. and a North Carolina A&T board member for the school of engineering. "North Carolina A&T is regarded as one of the nation's leading institutions of higher learning, graduating more African-American engineers than any other university in the country."

"Toyota is enthusiastically working toward a more diverse work environment. We see a closer collaboration with North Carolina A&T in supporting more students to get in school, and ultimately in corporate America, as a win-win," James said.

A&T Chancellor James C. Renick said, "This commitment from Toyota will help make a difference in the lives of our students. It will afford us the opportunity to produce more engineers and computer scientists."

"This funding will allow us to attract more students to the College of Engineering, provide a quality education to students who would not be able to attend and help them become successful leaders of tomorrow," added Joseph Monroe, dean of the College of Engineering.

Toyota operates 11 manufacturing plants with another three under construction in North America. By 2008, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build 1.76 million cars and trucks, 1.44 million engines, and 600,000 automatic transmissions in North America. The company's direct employment is 37,000 and direct investment is nearly $16.6 billion with annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totaling nearly $25 billion. Toyota's North American-produced vehicles include the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, and the Lexus RX330.

A&T is a land-grant, doctoral-research intensive, interdisciplinary institution. Built on a rich legacy that holds strong academic values as a standard, A&T's purpose is to give students the benefits of exemplary undergraduate, graduate and doctoral education and to prepare them for roles of leadership and service.