[458] Two Nontraditional Women To Receive MTSU Scholarships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 9, 2011
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

TWO NONTRADITIONAL WOMEN TO RECEIVE MTSU SCHOLARSHIPS
Accounting, Construction Management Majors Return to College for Brighter Futures

(MURFREESBORO) – An accounting major and mother of three children and a single woman majoring in construction management will be feted at the annual June S. Anderson Foundation luncheon at noon Thursday, May 12, at the MTSU Foundation House, 324 West Thompson Lane in Murfreesboro.
Nancy Kini of Murfreesboro and Rhonda Davidson of Martin will be the recipients of the foundation’s full tuition scholarships for women in nontraditional fields for the 2011-2012 academic year.
Dr. Mary Magada-Ward, president of the foundation’s all-volunteer board and MTSU professor of philosophy, says, “Both of these women have come back to school. Both seem to be very diligent, very conscientious and just the kind of women that this scholarship was designed for, I think.”
Kini, who works at Specialty Products Global, LLC, as an executive assistant/office manager, returned to school three years ago. She says she hopes to remain with the company and rise up the ladder to an accountant’s position after she graduates in spring 2012.
“My husband was laid off from his job, essentially cutting our household income in half,” Kini wrote in her essay to the foundation scholarship committee. “As a result of that, we withdrew our two youngest children from day care to save the $1,000 per month expense. Even with that savings, the other bills start to pile up on you.”
“Many of these women feel a responsibility to help run the house, especially with so many of their husbands being laid off,” adds Magada-Ward.
Davidson, who also won a June Anderson Foundation scholarship last academic year, wrote in her essay that it felt good to be asked by male students for advice or to be a team leader.
“I have had the satisfaction of working hands-on in a male-dominated profession and realize as a female I need to go to battle well-armed,” wrote Davidson. “Education and certifications are great ammunition! I feel that female managers are strong and diversified because they go the extra mile to prove themselves.”
Davidson says she is passionate about construction management and an engineer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers assure her there is a position for her as soon as she obtains her degree in fall 2018.
The June S. Anderson Foundation was created in 1982 by Anderson, who was

--more--

ANDERSON
Add 1

MTSU’s first woman full professor in chemistry, and attorney Margaret L. Behm to help close the gender gap in earnings.
“Very insightfully, she realized that part of that was a function of the kind of careers into which women are tracked,” says Magada-Ward. “So she wanted to encourage women to go into nontraditional and, typically, more lucrative fields.”
Ordinarily, the scholarships would come strictly from the interest on the foundation’s principal. However, because of the recession that has dogged the American economy over the last few years, the foundation has had to dip into the principle to continue its tradition of full tuition scholarships.
“As the economy starts to slowly recover, this foundation is well worth giving to, especially to try to combat the feminization of poverty,” says Magada-Ward.
Tax-deductible donations to the June S. Anderson Foundation can be mailed to Box 73, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn. 37132. For more information, go to http://frank.mtsu.edu/~jsa/.



--30--


Founded in 1911, Middle Tennessee State University is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution located in Murfreesboro and is the state’s largest public undergraduate institution. In September 2011, MTSU will celebrate its 100th year anniversary with special events and activities throughout the year — kicked off by a Blue-Tie Centennial Gala on Friday, Sept. 9.

For MTSU news and information, go online to mtsunews.com.