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Georgia Tech School of Industrial and Systems Engineering Receives $20 Million Commitment

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ATLANTA (March 3, 2006) — Georgia Tech's School of Industrial
and Systems Engineering (ISyE), ranked No. 1 in the country for the past
15 years by U.S. News and World Report, has received a commitment
of $20 million from Georgia Tech alumnus H. Milton Stewart and his wife
Carolyn Stewart.

The commitment establishes a permanent endowment, the income from which
will be available for unrestricted use within ISyE.

The school has been named the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial
and Systems Engineering in recognition of the Stewarts' commitment.
ISyE becomes the fourth named school in the Georgia Tech College of Engineering,
joining the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, the
Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering and the Wallace H.
Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory
University.

"The opportunities presented by a commitment of this magnitude
are nothing short of amazing," said Chelsea C. "Chip" White
III, the H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair in ISyE. "I
look forward to working with our faculty, staff, and administration in
determining how these funds can best be used to build upon the school's
long tradition of innovation, research and educational excellence, and
academic leadership."

The highly visible U.S. News & World Report college rankings
have placed ISyE in the nation's number one slot in industrial
and manufacturing engineering for 16 of the past 17 years. The Stewart's
commitment will be instrumental in helping the school maintain and increase
its national prominence.

"You can't have the nation's No. 1 ISyE program
for fifteen years running without strong private, philanthropic support
from alumni and friends, corporations, and foundations," said
College of Engineering Dean Don P. Giddens. "Sustaining the unparalleled
quality of the school's research programs and the excellence of
its faculty and student body takes ongoing, significant investment. We
are very fortunate that Milt Stewart has always understood that need
and offered his wholehearted support of ISyE."

In addition to a gift of $2.5 million that has already been made, the
Stewarts' commitment consists of two charitable remainder annuity
trusts totaling $7.5 million that have recently been established and
a third charitable remainder annuity trust of $10 million that will be
established in the near future. The Stewarts will receive income from
the trusts until December 2015, when the trust assets will be transferred
to the endowment, whose estimated value will be at least $20 million.

"We were thrilled seven years ago when they created the first
school chair in Georgia Tech history, a visionary step that helped secure
the finest leadership available for the School," said Georgia Tech
President Wayne Clough. "Now, with this wonderfully generous commitment,
Milt and Carolyn have ensured the ongoing momentum and prestige of the
school they love so much for many years to come."

Stewart has a long history of philanthropy at Georgia Tech. He established
the H. Milton Stewart Endowment Fund for ISyE Programs in 1995 and the
H. Milton and Carolyn J. Stewart School Chair in ISyE in 1999. He has
supported scholarships for women students coming to Georgia Tech from
Habersham High School.

Stewart is retired chairman and CEO of Standard Group Inc., a company
he established in 1987 with his sister, Kay Swanson, in Cornelia, Georgia.
Holdings of the Standard Group at that time included Standard Telephone,
which Stewart's father, H. M. Stewart Sr., purchased in 1939. Arkansas-based
Alltel purchased Standard Telephone in 1998.

In
addition to receiving his bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering
from Georgia Tech in 1961, Stewart later went on to receive his MBA from
Emory University.  Stewart is a trustee emeritus of the Georgia
Tech Foundation, emeritus member and former chairman of the ISyE Advisory
Board, former member of the College of Engineering Advisory Board, and
a former president, trustee, and Executive Committee member of the Georgia
Tech Alumni Association.

For more information:

Megan McRainey

Institute Communications and Public Affairs

Georgia Tech

404-894-6016

megan.mcrainey@icpa.gatech.edu

Status

  • Workflow Status:Published
  • Created By:Barbara Christopher
  • Created:03/02/2006
  • Modified By:Fletcher Moore
  • Modified:10/07/2016

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