{"68890":{"#nid":"68890","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Ron Johnson\u2019s Scholarship Commitment Supports Ongoing Efforts of Black Alumni","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMajor General Ronald L. Johnson (retired), MS OR 1985, knows\nthe significance of celebrating the contributions of pioneers\u2014and the\nopportunities made possible by pioneering actions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EJohnson will be among the many alumni, students, faculty,\nand staff who this fall will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the\nmatriculation of African American students at Georgia Tech. In the fall term of\n1961, Ford Greene, Ralph Long Jr., and Lawrence Williams became the first\nAfrican American students to enroll at the Institute. This pivotal event cut\nagainst the grain of popular opinion in the South in the early 1960s, signaling\na decades-long transformation that has resulted in Georgia Tech\u2019s current\nstatus as the nation\u2019s No. 1 producer of African American engineering graduates\nat the doctoral level and the No. 2 producer at the undergraduate level.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EIn appreciation for and recognition of this milestone event,\nJohnson has made two new philanthropic commitments to Tech. The first\nestablishes the need-based Ronald L. Johnson Scholarships for undergraduate\nstudents, with first preference for academically qualified African American\nstudents in the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering.\nThe second commitment establishes the Ronald L. Johnson Roll Call Endowment\nFund, whose distributions may be expended at the direction of the Institute\npresident.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe creation of the scholarship fund supports the ongoing\nefforts of the Georgia Tech Black Alumni Organization (GTBAO) to establish\nendowed scholarship funds not only in honor of the early trailblazers and the\nmore than 6,800 black men and women who have earned Georgia Tech degrees, but\nalso to make a financial difference for future generations. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOver the past fifty years, Georgia Tech has built an\ninternational reputation for its fostering of diversity within the context of a\nhighly competitive academic environment,\u201d said Johnson, who currently serves as\nsenior vice president of referee operations with the National Basketball\nAssociation. \u201cWe know that the minority students who study at and graduate from\nTech are among the nation\u2019s brightest; they have to be in order to succeed\nhere.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EJohnson made an expendable gift to fund a one-time\nscholarship for an African American student during the 2009-10 academic year.\n\u201cDuring the fall Homecoming, I had the privilege of meeting the recipient of\nthe scholarship I funded,\u201d said Johnson. \u201cHis achievements and his goals for\nthe future inspired me to endow the scholarship in perpetuity. I hope this new\nscholarship program will inspire its recipients to follow that example. Those\nof us who benefit from a Georgia Tech degree have an obligation to provide\nopportunity for the next generation of black students.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAll of us in the GTBAO are tremendously grateful to General\nJohnson for his generous support of scholarships for black students to obtain a\nrespected and valuable Georgia Tech education,\u201d said Sonya C. Rush, ChE 1981,\nchair of GTBAO\u2019s fundraising initiative. \u201cHis support provides momentum for our\nefforts to continue building a meaningful legacy at Georgia Tech. Through the\ncreation of endowed scholarships such as the Ronald L. Johnson Scholarship, we\nseek to enhance Georgia Tech\u2019s competitiveness in recruiting talented black\nstudents and to facilitate the successful matriculation of black students who\nwill be innovative leaders in all sectors of society. Our fundraising goal,\nsymbolic of the fiftieth anniversary, is $2,011,000 by 2011. I encourage all\nalumni, faculty, staff, and friends to join us in this effort, which is vital\nto ensuring Georgia Tech\u2019s status as the defining technological research\nuniversity of the 21st century.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003E(This\narticle first appeared in the 2011 winter issue of \u003Cem\u003ECampaign Quarterly\u003C\/em\u003E.)\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMajor General Ronald L. Johnson (retired), MS OR 1985, knows\nthe significance of celebrating the contributions of pioneers\u2014and the\nopportunities made possible by pioneering actions.\u0026nbsp; Johnson will be among the many alumni, students, faculty,\nand staff who this fall will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the\nmatriculation of African American students at Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"27511","created_gmt":"2011-07-22 12:24:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:48","author":"Ashley Daniel","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-07-22T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-07-22T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"68891":{"id":"68891","type":"image","title":"Ron Johnson Scholarship","body":null,"created":"1449177214","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:34","changed":"1475894599","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:19","alt":"Ron Johnson Scholarship","file":{"fid":"192680","name":"ron_johnson_scholarship_crop.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ron_johnson_scholarship_crop_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/ron_johnson_scholarship_crop_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":572461,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/ron_johnson_scholarship_crop_0.jpg?itok=QDgaaGkG"}},"68892":{"id":"68892","type":"image","title":"Integration Trio","body":null,"created":"1449177214","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:13:34","changed":"1475894599","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:43:19","alt":"Integration Trio","file":{"fid":"192681","name":"integration_trio.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/integration_trio_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/integration_trio_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":344235,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/integration_trio_0.jpg?itok=aEDv_TiK"}}},"media_ids":["68891","68892"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"}],"keywords":[{"id":"13672","name":"College of Engineering; H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering; Donald Ratliff; Supply Chain and Logistics Center; World Economic Forum"},{"id":"1139","name":"georgia tech alumni"},{"id":"13718","name":"MS"},{"id":"8224","name":"OR"},{"id":"13717","name":"Ronald L. Johnson"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara Christopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}