Irving Texas--ExxonMobil is contributing more than $1.6 million in departmental grants to 94 colleges and universities to assist these institutions with academic programs. Baylor University received $8,000 from ExxonMobil as part of this program. The School of Engineering and Computer Science received $2,500 of this amount.
Selected academic departments can use the grants for educational purposes, such as scholarships, field trips, visiting speakers, equipment purchases, student and faculty travel to professional meetings, and other academic projects. Exxon Mobil awards these grants to schools that offer degrees in fields from which the company recruits employees.
"ExxonMobil has maintained a steadfast commitment to higher education, supporting initiatives and universities that align with the goals and needs of our company and employees," said Mark Chilton of ExxonMobil Recruiting and Employment. "With these departmental grants, funds are specifically directed to those university departments that are educating the highly-qualified graduates that ExxonMobil recruits and hires."
The amount of the grant is based on many factors, including the number of ExxonMobil employees from a particular school, like Baylor, and ExxonMobil's recruiting success at the school over the past five years.
The Department Grants Program represents only a part of ExxonMobil's overall support of education. In 2002, ExxonMobil Foundation, Exxon Mobile Corporation, and its divisions and affiliates provided $98 million in contributions worldwide, with more than $41 million dedicated to education.
