MARIETTA, Ga. | Mar 30, 2018

Scholarships will support mechanical engineering students

Atlanta real estate executives Norman Radow, of The RADCO Companies, and Peter Fitzgerald, of Fightingtown Companies, have announced a $1 million donation to the Paul Radow Endowment, which provides annual scholarships to mechanical engineering students with military service or who are adult learners.

The announcement was made Friday at the opening of a new permanent exhibition inside Kennesaw State’s Engineering Technology Center, which honors Radow’s father, a noted engineer and inventor. The exhibit, titled “Paul Radow: Life of Innovation, Legacy of Service,” chronicles his lifelong commitment to innovation and service, from developing “nearly indestructible” pockets on dungarees for Levi Strauss to enhancing the launch pad elevator system for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Apollo program.

“My father knew firsthand how engineers could solve so many of our problems,” said Norman Radow, the former KSU Foundation chair. “As you can see from this new exhibition, he solved some important problems himself. I believe this endowment will be transformative in several ways; it will lure the best and brightest engineers to Kennesaw State, and it establishes a new watermark in scholarship giving that I urge others to emulate. My father couldn’t stop talking about KSU and the engineering college before he passed, and I think there is no better way to honor his legacy.”

The scholarship is open to full-time students who are pursuing a mechanical engineering degree in the Southern Polytechnic College of Engineering and Engineering Technology. Students must also be an adult learner, military veteran or the child of a veteran, and have a 3.0 grade point average or higher. Those selected will receive a $10,000 award to cover expenses that aren’t otherwise met by the HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships.

The four-panel exhibit was curated by Kennesaw State’s Department of Museums, Archives and Rare Books, and will be mounted in the Engineering Technology Center lobby. The display is anchored by reproduction prints of engineering plans Paul Radow’s design team developed for the Apollo program in the 1960s. Radow was himself a military veteran, having served in the U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II as a flight engineer, and spent his later life volunteering at low-income schools and supporting Autism research.

The exhibit is free and open to the public during the Engineering Technology Center’s normal operating hours.

– Travis Highfield

Photos by David Caselli

A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 7 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.