The Gittens Family Charitable Gift Fund and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) have announced the first awardees of the Timothy Gittens Scholarship.
The scholarship programme was created in honour of SJPI alumnus Timothy E. Gittens, a former Head of the Division of Welding. The Fund’s philanthropic efforts are geared towards education and supporting students interested in pursuing careers in technical and vocational skills.
Five students were recently selected as this year’s recipients and were each awarded $1,000 to cover expenses related to one year of study, including uniforms, registration fees, and personal protective equipment. The scholarship also enables recipients with a GPA of 3.0 and above to apply for further funding while attending the SJPI.
It was presented to Anmari Cumberbatch, Rebecca Simpson, Alexander Enmore, Kenisha Greenidge, and Daniel McCollin during the Timothy E. Gittens lecture held on Monday, September 25, in SJPI’s Media Resource Centre. The five students are pursuing certificates in Motor Vehicle Engineering Technology; Electrical Installation; Mechanical Maintenance Engineering; Catering; and Marine Diesel Engineering, respectively.
Mr. Gittens, a Connecticut, USA resident, retired from Union Carbide Corp./Praxair in 2007, after 37 years of service as a Project Engineer, marketing manager, member of the Global Technology Team, and senior engineering consultant. Since his retirement, he has been a Management Consultant with Liburdi Automation, a Canadian Engineering company.
He continues to pursue his passion for education through his philanthropic efforts. He has been a visiting lecturer at North Carolina State University and as an Advisory Board member of Colleges in North Carolina, Alabama, Texas, and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE).
He has lectured in Europe, South America, Asia, and North America and has presented and published dozens of technical articles. Mr. Gittens is also the inventor of technologies in industrial and packaged gases.