DATE: July 02, 2008
CONTACT:
Betty McClellan, (864) 656-5892
bettym@clemson.edu
WRITER:
Angela Nixon, (864) 656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu
ExxonMobil gives Clemson nearly $218,000 in matching gifts
CLEMSON — The ExxonMobil Foundation presented a check of $217,795.17 to Clemson University. The money matches gifts ExxonMobil employees and retirees made to Clemson in 2007.
The ExxonMobil Foundation matches employee and retiree gifts 3-to-1 through its Educational Matching Gift Program. In the past six years, the program has given more than $839,000 to Clemson.
“As an alumnus, I am proud of my university for its strong and continuing progress toward the visionary 10-year goals set by Clemson’s board of trustees in 2001," said John DuPre, 1980 Clemson alumnus and global manufacturing manager for ExxonMobil Lubricants & Specialties Co., who presented the check to Clemson. "Similarly, I am proud of my company and all of its employees and retirees for their generous contributions to Clemson and other institutions of higher education over the years. In 2007 alone, ExxonMobil and its employees gave more than $36 million to colleges and universities in the United States.”
More than 30 ExxonMobil employees and retirees made donations to the university last year. Much of the money was given to the ExxonMobil Employees Endowed Chair in Engineering, which recently was filled by mechanical engineering professor Georges Fadel.
Other gifts were made to class projects, endowments in the College of Engineering and Science, the Eugene T. Moore School of Education, the Jungaleers Endowment Fund, the School of Architecture, university libraries, Air Force ROTC scholarships, the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts and the Clemson Fund.
“Clemson’s commitment to world-class teaching and its reputation for excellence in engineering, science and technology are well-aligned with ExxonMobil’s commitment to education,” DuPre said. “Future technological challenges demand that we produce more and more well-trained engineers and scientists at schools such as Clemson. To accomplish this we must instill a strong interest in math and science in children at an early age. This starts with training highly qualified math and science teachers at the grade-school level. Clemson’s continuing focus on developing excellent teachers will be instrumental in meeting this challenge.”