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Gift establishes scholarship to support students from or studying in Tanzania
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA – The Lincoln University received a $100,000 gift from Mihayo Wilmore ’00 and his business partner, Yasmin Chali, to establish the Jacques E. Wilmore, Sr. ’50 Endowed Scholarship Fund under the university’s $10 million The Students First Campaign, President Dr. Robert R. Jennings announced today.
The new endowed scholarship, part of the university’s first ever endowment campaign for need and merit-based scholarships, is named for the alumni donor’s father – a Class of 1950 valedictorian and a Civil Rights movement activist.
“I’m proud that our university continues to be associated with the talented and generous Wilmore family,” Dr. Jennings said. “This gift will ensure students who attend Lincoln from Tanzania or U.S. students who study abroad in Tanzania will be able to count on financial support from our university.”
Since the establishment of The Students First Campaign in 2013, alumni participation has increased 100% with more than $441,000 in alumni gifts, representing a $140,000 increase from the previous fiscal year.
The Wilmore scholarship will be awarded to Lincoln students studying abroad in Africa, with the priority for students studying in Tanzania. International students from Tanzania or more broadly in Africa will be considered, as will students whose permanent residence is Philadelphia, Pa., students with at least one Tanzanian parent or students born to a U.S. citizen working or living in Africa. Since 2009, six Tanzanian citizens have studied at Lincoln, according to the university’s 2013 Fact Book.
Peter A. Caputo, Interim Vice President for Institutional Advancement, echoed Dr. Jennings’ sentiments. “This generous gift — made possible with the help of professor Dr. Lennell Dade’s continued relationship with Mihayo — is another example of our alumni continuing to support the rich legacy of Lincoln both home and around the world,” said Caputo.
Mihayo Wilmore graduated with a degree in computer science. An entrepreneur, Mihayo established the Internet Service Provider company, UhuruOne, in Dar es Salaam, the largest city in Tanzania, where he lives with his family.
Mihayo’s story was cited in a 2009 op-ed article about entrepreneurship published by the ambassador of the United States of America to Tanzania, who said of Mihayo’s company “… (it) is a rare example of a young, innovative, diverse Tanzanian company that operates at the cutting edge, with the flexibility to take advantage of the latest trends in technology.”
To make a gift to The Students First Campaign, contact Campaign Manager Kevan Turman ’01 at (484) 365-7440 or kturman@lincoln.edu.
EDITOR’S NOTE: ‘THE LINCOLN UNIVERSITY’ IS NOW THE OFFICIAL NAME FOR THE INSTITUTION FORMERLY REFERRED TO AS ‘LINCOLN UNIVERSITY’ OR ‘LINCOLN UNIVERSITY OF PA’ AND SHOULD BE ADHERED TO IN ALL REFERENCES.
Founded in 1854, The Lincoln University (PA) is the FIRST of four Lincoln Universities in the world and is the nation’s FIRST degree-granting Historically Black College and University (HBCU). The University combines the elements of a liberal arts and science-based undergraduate curriculum along with select graduate programs to meet the needs of those living in a highly technological and global society. Today, Lincoln, which enrolls a diverse student body of approximately 2,000 men and women, possesses an international reputation for preparing and producing world-class leaders such as Thurgood Marshall, the FIRST African American U.S. Supreme Court Justice; Lillian Fishburne, the FIRST African American woman promoted to Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy; Langston Hughes,the noted poet; Kwame Nkrumah, the FIRST president of Ghana; Nnamdi Azikiwe, the FIRST president of Nigeria and a myriad of others.