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Press release from Ole Miss:
In commemoration of its 60th anniversary, the Mississippi Manufacturers Association (MMA) has contributed $60,000 to build a scholarship endowment at the University of Mississippi, assisting students enrolled in UM’s Center for Manufacturing Excellence (CME) – the only program of its kind in the nation.
The new 47,000-square-foot CME was created by the university and the State of Mississippi, in association with the construction of the Toyota Motor Corp. plant in Blue Springs, Miss, and offers cross-disciplinary academic programs for undergraduates who learn to be effective accountants, business managers, and engineers in the manufacturing industry.
CME brings together the schools of Accountancy, Business Administration, and Engineering to provide students with skills needed to be effective managers and engineers in the manufacturing industry.
“When businesses around the globe – such as Toyota, Nissan and a variety of others – look to locate somewhere in the United States, the workforce quality is the number one resource they examine,” said Jay C. Moon, president and chief executive president of MMA.
“The CME is a very valuable marketing tool the Mississippi Manufacturers Association, Mississippi Development Authority and local development officials will use. We will be able to talk about the quality of this program and the preparation students receive. That will resonate with the manufacturers looking to locate here and those planning to expand. Mississippi will have a significant advantage over other states, particularly in the southeastern region where we most often compete,” Moon said.
The CME Advisory Board includes executives from Toyota’s plant in Blue Springs, Miss., and other manufacturing companies and industry experts to ensure a close tie to the industry.
The CME features a 12,000-square-foot “factory floor,” with three manufacturing lines and assembly and final finishing areas.
The MMA Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide two academic scholarships to students with declared degrees in areas of study within the CME. In addition, recipients will be full-time Ole Miss students who are Mississippi residents and classified with at least a 3.0 grade-point average. The MMA endowed scholarship funds at three other Mississippi universities.
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Read the full press release here.