RIT Alumnus and Spouse Pledge $5 Million to RIT for Engineering Scholarships
The commitment, from Charles and Andrea Volpe of Charleston, S.C., will expand the Charles E. and Andrea L. Volpe Engineering Scholarship to benefit additional students. Established in 2003, the scholarship, covering full tuition over four years, targets students from Red Jacket High School, Victor High School and Canandaigua High School, in Ontario County, N.Y.
Charles Volpe, a 1954 graduate of Red Jacket High School and native of Manchester, N.Y., earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from RIT in 1959. He is a current board member and retired president and chief operating officer of KEMET Electronics Corp. in Simpsonville, S.C.
“My wife and I have been searching for a way to give something back to RIT and to my hometown, so offering engineering scholarships to RIT for students from Red Jacket, Victor and Canandaigua seemed to accomplish both of these goals,” he says. “Our dream is that enough students will graduate through this scholarship that they, in turn, will see fit to individually or as a group of Volpe Scholars get together and give something back to RIT and to the hometown.”
The $5 million bequest is the largest ever from an RIT alumnus to the university. Currently, one RIT student is supported with a full scholarship. In addition, the Volpes recently gave a $5,000 grant to a fourth-year RIT engineering major to financially assist her in final-quarter studies.
“We are grateful for the continued generous support for RIT scholarships from Chuck and Andrea Volpe,” says RIT President Albert Simone. “In keeping with their vision of giving back to the community and directly affecting students' lives, it is the students who are the ultimate beneficiaries of the Volpes' altruism.”
The couple also recently pledged a matching grant to help launch a FIRST robotics team at Red Jacket High School. The school secured initial funding of $6,000 from NASA, assuring receipt of an additional $6,000 from the Volpes. FIRST—For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology—sponsors regional robotics competitions throughout the United States and an annual national competition. RIT will host a regional competition for the first time next spring. The event is expected to draw up to 40 high school teams from across the Northeast for competition March 3-5 in RIT's Gordon Field House and Activities Center.
“I thought FIRST would be the perfect vehicle to stimulate interest in engineering with the students at Red Jacket,” says Charles Volpe. “I offered a matching gift to get the ball rolling and because I believe it is important for the local community to get involved and to help raise the remaining funds.”
Earlier this year, Volpe was named a founding member of RIT's Mechanical Engineering Alumni Academy.
Note: RIT's Kate Gleason College of Engineering is among the nation's top-ranked engineering colleges. The college offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in applied statistics, engineering science, and computer, electrical, industrial and systems, mechanical, and microelectronic engineering and a doctoral degree in microsystems engineering. RIT was the first university to offer undergraduate degrees in microelectronic and software engineering. Founded in 1829, RIT enrolls 15,300 students in more than 340 undergraduate and graduate programs. RIT has one of the nation's oldest and largest cooperative education programs.