Posted on December 26, 2001 at 1:00 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — A $1 million gift from AmSouth Bank to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will create the largest and most prestigious scholarship in the university’s history. The newly established AmSouth Academic Scholars Endowment is a merit-based scholarship program that will provide a $12,500 award to an entering freshman in the fall of 2002, the first year of implementation of the program. The scholarship can be renewed annually. An award will be granted to an incoming freshman each year so that when fully funded, there will be at least four AmSouth Scholars at UAB every year.
“This is a challenging time in higher education,” said UAB President W. Ann Reynolds. “The competition for the best students is high. This generous gift by AmSouth will help UAB attract the country’s most gifted students, those young men and women who will be the next generation of scholars and leaders for our nation.”
Application to become an AmSouth Academic Scholar is open to any incoming freshman admitted to a degree-granting program at UAB. The first recipient of the scholarship will be a high school senior accepted at UAB for the fall 2002 semester. The scholarship is renewable annually for up to four years.
“AmSouth has always placed a high priority on education and on related programs that enable students to achieve their full potential,” said John Gaffney, city president for AmSouth Bank in Birmingham. “One of our objectives in making this gift is to assist UAB in competing for the best and brightest students locally and nationwide. By so doing, we are enlarging the talent pool of young professionals who will help Alabama continue to grow.”
The AmSouth gift comes at a time when UAB is aggressively working to help raise the number of Alabama high school students who go on to college and stay at the forefront of education and research. Alabama lags behind the nation in the number of high school students who continue their education. According to a recent Southern Regional Board report, Alabama is second lowest in the nation in the percentage of adults with bachelor’s degrees — 20 percent compared to the U.S average of 26 percent.
An aggressive student recruitment campaign at UAB has resulted this year in a 12 percent increase in students aged 19 and under, and a 19 percent increase in students from Jefferson and surrounding counties. UAB’s $350 million comprehensive fund-raising campaign has to date raised $280 million for academic programs and campus facilities. The AmSouth gift raises the total for new scholarships and fellowships to $15.2 million.
“By creating this prestigious scholarship opportunity at UAB, AmSouth has made an investment in the future of not only UAB and Birmingham, but the entire state,” said Shirley Salloway Kahn, Ph.D., UAB vice president for development, alumni and external relations. “Their commitment to maximize the potential of all Alabamians has long been evident in AmSouth’s corporate policy and philanthropy. It is a mission we share at UAB. We welcome them as partners in building a brighter future for the people of Alabama.”
Applicants for the AmSouth Academic Scholarships must be accepted and admitted to a degree-granting program in any of the six academic undergraduate schools at UAB. They should demonstrate solid academic promise, have earned at least a 3.5 academic grade point average and should also demonstrate leadership ability and achievement in previous pursuits, whether of a scholastic or extracurricular nature. A committee appointed by the vice president for student affairs, which will include a representative from AmSouth Bank, will select the final scholarship recipients.
AmSouth is a regional bank holding company headquartered in Birmingham with $38.2 billion in assets, 600 branch banking offices and more than 1,200 ATMs. In addition to Alabama, AmSouth also operates in Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia.
AmSouth is a leader among regional banks in the Southeast in several key business segments, including consumer and commercial banking, small business banking, mortgage banking, equipment leasing, annuity and mutual fund sales and trust and investment management services. AmSouth also offers a complete line of banking products.