Volkswagen will announce plans to invest in Tennessee universities during a special philanthropic announcement at the Calvin Donaldson Elementary School today at 2 p.m. The event will feature a presentation from VW CEO Stefan Jacoby, CEO Frank Fischer, and Dr. Horst Neumann, member of the Board of Management Volkswagen AG. 200-300 people are expected to attend. Details of the education investment trickled in through several sources yesterday evening with some saying the investment could be as high as $5 million. Christian Buhlmann, Product Communications Volkswagen AG, briefly alluded to the project in a video, shot by Russ Jackson during yesterday's VW documentary filming:
...million dollar deal that universities get here throughout the state. It's not just Chattanooga, but also Knoxville, Nashville, and up to Memphis even. Because there's a lot of taxpayer money in the plant...then we are pitching in with some of our money from Germany to help revitalize the colleges [here].
Stay tuned for a guest post by Russ Jackson, Secretary of the Scenic City Volks Folks club. Chattarati will cover the Calvin Donaldson event as well.
David Morton
Adrienne Royer on March 20, 2009
This is great news for the UT system. Knoxville's rankings have gone up despite budget cutbacks. I believe that the university hasn't been funded fully since 1988. Higher ed needs to be a priority in TN.