Triangle semiconductor maker Cree makes $4 million gift to North Carolina HBCU

Triangle semiconductor maker Cree said Monday that it is making a gift of $4 million to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the largest historically Black university in the country as well as the top producer of Black engineering graduates.

The gift will fund a scholars program for students studying in science, technology, engineering and mathematics at Greensboro-based N.C. A&T.

The hope is that the money will increase the number of Black students who are able to complete their studies without debt and create a pathway to jobs after graduation.

On average, Black students have $25,000 more in student loan debt than white students four years after graduating, according to the U.S. Department of Education. And 48% of all Black graduates owe more on their federal undergraduate loans four years after graduating, compared to 17% of white students. That disparity is one of the leading causes of the debt gap between Black and white households.

While N.C. A&T is the No. 1-ranked public Black college by U.S. News & World Report, the college also ranked sixth for the highest student debt at graduation among national universities. The median student debt was $28,360, and 60% of students received Pell grants, The News & Observer reported.

Officials from Cree and the university said that the money will fund around eight to 10 students per year, and Cree said it hopes to make the program permanent. Recipients of the scholarship money will also have the opportunity to intern at Durham-based Cree, which creates components for semiconductors as well as LED lighting products.

Cree CEO Gregg Lowe said the idea for the donation came after the killing of George Floyd while in police custody in Minnesota in May.

Floyd’s death set off a shock wave of social justice protests across the country and led to many companies and institutions reckoning with their own shortcomings.

“It took me a while to figure out my whole train of thought” after Floyd’s death, Lowe said at a virtual press conference with N.C. A&T Chancellor Harold Martin. “But we wrote a note to our organization and said we’re going to do something.”

Cree didn’t want to rush into a decision. So, the company set up a series of listening sessions with employees, and the idea of working with A&T’s engineering school was put forward. Cree had recruited from the school in the past.

“What we are trying to do here is make a big difference,” Lowe said. “... I am a big believer that education enables so many different paths forward. It creates a sort of fork in the road for a lot of kids that don’t have opportunity.”

Eligible students would come from the university’s HOME program, which stands for Helping Orient Minorities to Engineering. The program helps promising students during the summer before the first year at college prepare for the start of the academic career.

Martin said his university is a key supporter of social mobility.

“That means capturing well-prepared, bright students from low-income families and affording them an incredible educational experience,” he said.

But it can’t stop at just taking classes. Partnerships with companies like Cree are crucial, he added, because they provide important internship experience and ultimately career opportunities.

“That will foster their abilities not only to provide for themselves and their families,” Martin said, “but to be a tremendous asset to the community in which they live.”

This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate

This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Triangle semiconductor maker Cree makes $4 million gift to North Carolina HBCU."