UTD gets big cash grant from Ericsson NA - again

by PegNews wire

Ericsson North America has announced donations totaling $200,000 to the University of Texas at Dallas - half of it for 2008-2008 school year student scholarships and the other half for the UT Dallas MobileLab, a hub for campus research based (as the name might imply) on mobile technology ideas and applications.

Specifically, the student scholarship money will go to undergraduates in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, the School of Management and the Academic Bridge program. (NOTE that "Jonsson" is spelled with two s's,as is "Ericsson." Coincidence? I think not.) The money will be divided up into 20 $2,500 scholarships, including 16 to new recipients and four going to previous recipients - all of whom probably have back-to-back s's in their names. (I'm guessing.)

Bob & Carol & UTD & Ericsson

So, what's in it for the Swedish telecommunications company? (I mean, aside from the tax writeoff?) According to Arun Bhikshesvaran, vice president of strategy and CTO for Ericsson North America, "Ericsson has seen great benefits from our close relationship with UT Dallas, so we believe it is a smart investment to increase our support of the University. We frequently hire quality graduates from UT Dallas, and we are excited to be able to assist an even greater number of worthy students.”

Ericsson has a history of supporting UTD which extends into the advisory realm: two corporate execs (Peter Dicksson, director, information technology and operations; and Jill Little, vice president, human resources) serve on the School of Management's Advisory Council.

Sounds cozy.

posted by JM