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Georgia Tech alumni increasing efforts to raise scholarship funds for black students

August 25, 2016 Atlanta: Taking in a sunny day on campus, some Georgia Tech students walked to class, others rode along the bricks of the Georgia Tech Plaza in front of the Kessler Campanile outside the Student Center Commons on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Channel 2 Meteorologist Brad Nitz says Friday will be another dry day Partly cloudy with a high of 91 and a low of 71. JOHN SPINK /JSPINK@AJC.COM

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

August 25, 2016 Atlanta: Taking in a sunny day on campus, some Georgia Tech students walked to class, others rode along the bricks of the Georgia Tech Plaza in front of the Kessler Campanile outside the Student Center Commons on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2016. Channel 2 Meteorologist Brad Nitz says Friday will be another dry day Partly cloudy with a high of 91 and a low of 71. JOHN SPINK /JSPINK@AJC.COM
By
March 27, 2017

The Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization has started a year-long campaign to increase the number of its scholarships for black students.

The organization has scheduled a Leaders & Legends event on Sat., April 8 to recognize accomplished alumni, students, staff and faculty. The black-tie optional event will be at Tech's Academy of Medicine, 875 West Peachtree St. in Atlanta.

The endowment currently provides $35,000 in scholarships.

Tech has tried to increase the percentage of African-American students on its campus, which is currently about 7 percent.

This year’s honorees are:

  • Jacqueline Jones Royster, Tech's first African-American dean
  • Prof. Ronald L. Johnson, the National Basketball Association's first senior vice president of referee operations
  • Guy Primus, CEO of the Virtual Reality Co.
  • Sonya Rush, the alumni organization's founder
  • Karl Webster Barnes, grant writer with the Morehouse College Community Revitalization Initiative
  • Prof. Thomas "Danny" Boston
  • Carla Gilson, Tech's associate director of sports medicine
  • Michole Washington, founder of Afrithmetic, which promotes mathematics curriculum nationwide

About the Author

Eric Stirgus joined The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001. He is the newsroom's education editor. Born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., Eric is active in the Atlanta Association of Black Journalists and the Education Writers Association and enjoys mentoring aspiring journalists.

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