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Associate Director/UT Student Earns Scholarship to Study Toledo |
| By
Kimyette Finley |
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Oct 18, 2002 |
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| Tamara Williams posed for a photo with President Dan Johnson and Dr. Nagi Naganathan, interim dean of the College of Engineering. |
Tamara Williams thought she knew a great deal about her hometown, but she’s learning even more since she recently earned a scholarship to discover as much as she can about Toledo and use her findings to impact the community.
Williams, associate director of career management in the College of Engineering, was awarded the 2002 minority scholarship to attend Toledo's Community Leadership program. The $1,500 award is administered through the United Way's Volunteer Center.
According to its Web site, Leadership Toledo is a nonprofit organization that fosters leadership and involvement in the greater Toledo area. The organization expands knowledge and awareness of community issues and opportunities; provides contacts in business, industry, government, the media and human services; prepares participants for more active and informed involvement in community affairs; and recognizes individuals and/or organizations for their community involvement and efforts.
“They’re molding future leaders to help right here in Toledo. I’ll be able to reach out to the community in a different capacity and bring those issues back to the University,” Williams said.
Several people, including John Reynolds, former director of the MBA and EMBA programs in the College of Business Administration, recommended that Williams apply for the scholarship. “I applied the day of the deadline. I got a call two months later saying I was accepted. They said they were impressed with my professional background,” Williams explained.
Reynolds used to work with Williams in the College of Engineering. In fact, he used to hold the same position she currently works in, and Reynolds was part of the Leadership Toledo class of 1996. “She is very deserving of this award for her outstanding involvement in leadership in the community with organizations such as Boys and Girls Club of Toledo, her church, the United Way of Greater Toledo, National Society of Black Engineers and the Toledo Urban League,” Reynolds wrote via e-mail. “Tamara Williams will represent The University of Toledo well along with two other members of the UT family, Dr. Ellen Nagy of Career Services and Darlene Miller of the College of Business for Leadership Toledo class 2003. I’m truly honored that they will be positively impacting the community and making it a better place for future leaders.”
Participants in the program are required to select an area of focus. Williams hopes to work with young people. “I’m interested in working with youth in education. Minorities sometimes aren’t aware that there are scholarships and grants available. A higher education is very important,” said Williams, who helps find co-op and employment opportunities for civil and chemical engineering students. Williams is also a student — she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UT and is working on her Ph.D. in higher education.
Williams and her Community Leadership Toledo class, which numbers about 50 and includes city government employees as well as workers from the nonprofit sector and the business community, recently toured Toledo. The class concludes next June, and so far, Williams is excited about the possibilities. “In the first class, we introduced ourselves and we had the chance to network. We also focused on the history of Toledo. We’re going to focus on areas such as growth, health care and education. It got me really excited.”
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