Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., and Ford Motor Company have announced a five-year, $5 million contribution from Ford Motor Company Fund, the philanthropic arm of the company, to support major initiatives at WSU in engineering, business, occupational health, libraries and foreign language instruction.

"Wayne State is extremely grateful for this wonderful affirmation of Ford Motor Company's continuing partnership with the university in so many important areas," said WSU President Irvin D. Reid. "This grant will enable us to significantly advance our urban mission through high quality research and increased access to higher education for all groups. It also helps us to provide the technological and curricular tools to assist students in meeting the challenges of today's global economy."

The grant marks the continuation of a well-established relationship between Wayne State and Ford.

"Ford Motor Company's support for higher education continues to be a top priority as we strive to become the world's leading consumer company for automotive products and services," said Helen Petrauskas, Ford Motor Co. vice president of environmental and safety engineering and the company's executive sponsor for WSU. "Our relationship with Wayne State is a partnership in the truest sense. Together, we are focusing on myriad efforts to further research and enhance educational opportunities. It's a win for everyone involved."

In the College of Engineering, the latest contribution will support high school programs for women and minorities. Both the Women in Engineering training program and the High School Engineering Training Institute were developed to increase the number of underrepresented minorities and women in engineering. The grant also will support the Higher Learning Education Program (HELP), which offers tutoring for undergraduate engineering students in mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science and engineering courses. HELP also offers personal counseling, career counseling and professional development assistance.

School of Business Administration programs supported by the contribution include the Student Honors Program for Minority Excellence, in which students work in Detroit businesses as their laboratory for study. The grant also will fund the school's Global Perspectives in Management program and eastern European internships, which allow candidates for master's degrees in business administration (MBA) from abroad to study and understand the free market system. The programs include an MBA exchange agreement with the Lviv (Ukraine) Institute of Management.

In the College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, the grant will support the Environmental Exposure Facility. The school will use the facility to assess the effects of inhalation exposure to irritants, particulate and microbial products.

The department also will use a portion of this latest Ford contribution to support the Ford Motor Company Minority Scholarship Fund, which provides financial assistance for minority students for tuition, books, research and travel related expenses.

In addition, the contribution will support efforts by the Foreign Language Technology Center in the College of Liberal Arts to convert an antiquated language audio laboratory and a group instruction classroom into a modern 120seat distance learning facility for foreign language and cultural instruction. The center will provide global television broadcasts of foreign languages, using advanced video and Internet technologies to reach learners elsewhere in Michigan and around the world.

The Ford grant will enable the David Adamany Undergraduate Library, operated by University Libraries, to immediately add another 10,000 volumes to its book collection. The move enables the library to take a significant step toward its long-term goal of 100,000 volumes supporting the full range of subjects in the undergraduate curriculum.

Ford's history of partnering with Wayne State recently included a $1 million contribution to the construction of the Manufacturing Engineering Building, which was completed in late 1996. In addition, Ford has supported WSU research and has worked with engineering and business faculty to develop curricula that prepare students to meet the expectations, demands and pressures of a competitive business environment. The company also has extensively supported the education and training of WSU students through various scholarships and internships.

For more information call Bernice Lopata in the WSU Office of Development and Alumni Affairs at (313) 677-2275.