College of Engineering Receives Scholarship Money

The Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in the College of Engineering received $100,000 to give out in scholarships.

Donated by Stantec, an engineering company, the money will be divided into two $10,000 scholarships for five years, according to department head William Knocke. The scholarships will be handed out starting in the 2008-09 school year.

Students who qualify must have at least a 3.0 GPA and be entering their junior senior year in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. Preference will be given to qualified students who previously received the scholarship.

This is one of the largest scholarships offered by the department, which has 625-650 of the college of Engineering’s 5,500 students. Knocke said the department offers around 40 scholarships, ranging from around $1,000 to around $10,000.

The money was presented on Oct. 3 to Knocke by Bill Edwards, Stantect vice president and leader of the company’s operations in the Southeast.

“What we’ve done is increased our commitment to the university at this stage,” Edwards said.

“The best and brightest will be our prime candidates,” Knocke said.

Stantec, founded in 1954, provides consulting for engineering projects. With four offices in Va., Stantec has several Virginia Tech alumni among its 7,500 employees.

“Of course we hire a lot of engineers, being 7,000 plus employees,” Edwards said. “We do a fair amount of effort with students in internships. We hire engineers in many different facets. We also then hire graduate engineers as well with specialized training.”

The donation represents a significant leap in the contributions to Virginia Tech from Stantec. The company has sponsored $2,000 scholarships in the last two years for Tech students, according to Edwards.

“What we’ve done is increased our commitment to the university at this stage,” Edwards said. “We’ve been hiring graduate from Virginia Tech for many many years, and this was one way to give back to the university.”

Edwards graduated from Tech with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1967 and a master’s in sanitary engineering in 1968. He started working for Stantec in 2004.