Engineering students will be eligible for more scholarships, thanks to BP.
British Petroleum America, a petroleum and petrochemical company, donated $35,000 to the University’s College of Engineering in November 2003, bringing total donations by BP to $123,592.
“The highlight is that BP is increasing their support of LSU,” said Tammy Abshire, associate director of Development for the College of Engineering. “The college is greatly appreciative of our industry partnership with BP and their support over the years.”
The donation will go to student scholarships and faculty awards. The funds are considered “unrestricted money,” said Jeff Hale, director of Corporate and Foundation Relations with the LSU Foundation.
This money gives departments means to spend money on unplanned expenses, such as ordering new computers or updating technology.
Hale said this money allows the college to spend money where it needs it most outside the regular budgeting process.
According to a letter from BP to the dean of the engineering college, funds will be used for one-year scholarships of $2,000 for students in the petroleum, chemical and mechanical engineering fields. Additional funding of $5,000 is set aside for minority scholarships, including women.
The letter also specified that preference should be given to students with experience — intern or full-time — in the energy industry, or for students who have accepted an offer to intern in the energy industry the summer of 2004.
“BP is an amazing company and I am glad that with so many places for their money to go that they’ve taken interest in us,” said petroleum engineering sophomore Amy Wormsley.
BP’s corporate sector also set aside funding for “Teacher Excellence Awards.”
“These faculty awards are very important because BP is one of the only corporate sponsors to award outstanding undergrad teachers,” said Hale.
Hale said faculty recognition awards funded by a corporation like BP are “extremely rare.”
According to the University Policy and Procedure PS-07, the award recognizes faculty members who have demonstrated superior teaching skills in undergraduate courses. The recipients of the award are nominated by faculty members of their respective colleges, and the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost make the final selection.
This year’s recipients of the BP Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching are Linda Allen, director of chemistry, and Dydia DeLyser, assistant professor of geography and anthropology. The award ceremony will take place May 11.
BP also donated $30,000 to support Louisiana Sea Grant College Program oyster research in January 2003.
According to an LSU Foundation press release, the $30,000 donation for the Sea Grant College Program oyster research is headed by Dr. John Supan and will test new oyster culture methods in Caminada Bay, La.
The project will take advantage of warm seawater from the coast of Louisiana and conduct tests including inshore sea farming, oyster genetics and off-bottom culture methods.