Featured Initiatives

Completion Scholarships  |  STEM Building  |  African American Male Academy  |  Economic Impact  |  Other Ways to Give

Completion Scholarships

Scholarships make a profound impact on a student’s life, and often can be the difference in a student being able to complete their studies.

The single biggest concern that many students and their families face is how to pay for a college education. Scholarships are vital to assist students in paying for school – and they are the only way that some can fulfill their dreams of earning a college degree. Data from the UofM’s Office of Institutional Research shows that every $100 in non-loan aid increases a student’s probability of graduating by 2.5%. 

 By underwriting or offsetting tuition and expenses, you help ensure that the UofM experience is affordable to motivated and deserving students. Scholarships also play an important role in helping the University attract and retain talented students who will be leaders in our community. 
 
Simply put, scholarships have the unique ability to change lives. An investment in scholarships is an investment in the University's most valuable resource, its students. The return on your investment is immeasurable and upholds the future of our university, state and nation for generations to come. 

STEM Research and Classroom Building

The new STEM Research and Classroom Building will enable our students to collaborate to produce ground-breaking research and innovations while building tomorrow’s STEM workforce.

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is the collection of academic disciplines that will drive economic development opportunities, find solutions to the grand challenges we face as a nation, a planet, and a people (water, food, energy, security, health and healthcare), and create new jobs for generations to come.  
 
The University of Memphis is set to build a world-class STEM Research and Classroom Building (SRCB) where students and faculty from the Herff College of Engineering and the College of Arts and Sciences can collaborate to address societal changes and help students compete on the world stage in scientific and engineering innovation.  
 
Successful collaboration takes place here at the UofM every day: in the classroom, across campus, in conjunction with private industry, and in partnership with other institutions of higher education. Despite current space deficiencies, our faculty and students produce nationally-lauded research supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Transportation, and numerous other public and private entities.  
 
This new 65,000 square foot facility will support 16 undergraduate and graduate programs. The SRCB will enable faculty and students to collaborate on innovative research, tackling issues like earthquake engineering, cyber security, workforce development, hydrology, big data, artificial intelligence, transportation, and biomaterials. 

African American Male Academy

Through the African American Male Academy, the UofM will foster a culture of inclusive excellence for African American male students, with an end goal of college completion.

Here at the University of Memphis, our top priority is to provide students from all backgrounds with the opportunity to excel. One of the most vulnerable student populations is African American males. The UofM has made a long-term commitment to improving the success rates of black males with the establishment of the African American Male Academy (AAMA). 
 
The AAMA takes an applied developmental approach in three phases:  

1. Starting in middle school, the initiative will identify, recruit and induct African American male students into a culture of inclusive excellence. Through this model of early exposure to academic and career preparation, peer and faculty mentors, textbooks and educational supplies and integration into college life, African American male students are set on an early path toward college completion.
2. The AAMA will provide college students assistance to overcome potential obstacles to degree completion through well-established and newly developed programs such as Empowered Men of Color, HAAMI, I AM A Man: I Teach and MLK50 Fellows. These initiatives plus many more will serve as the core components of AAMA for students once enrolled at the UofM.
3. The AAMA will identify, recruit and induct students into UofM master’s, doctoral and law school programs.

In June 2020, the first cohort of 50 African American male 8th graders were inducted into the AAMA. These middle schoolers will receive academic and career preparation, mentoring, and educational assistance as they matriculate through middle and high school and the UofM. Our goal through this program is to increase the 6-year graduation rate for this student population from 40% to match the overall graduation rate of 62% by 2025.

Economic Impact

The UofM contributes more than $1 billion in economic activity to our city, state and regional economies.

$1 billion in economic output. $500 million in labor income. Nearly 10,000 jobs. These are just some of the impressive statistics to come from the latest economic impact analysis conducted by Applied Analysis for the University of Memphis. 
 
With roughly 6,600 employees, the UofM is one of Tennessee’s largest employers, directly and indirectly impacting the lives of tens of thousands of residents, including 22,000 enrolled students. From an operational perspective, the UofM contributes nearly $1.1 billion in economic activity annually, supports nearly $500 million in wages and salary payments for local workers and is directly or indirectly responsible for roughly 9,900 Memphis-area jobs. 
 
A single University of Memphis graduating class increases incomes within the State of Tennessee by nearly $110 million annually. During the past decade, graduating classes earned a combined $2.1 billion statewide. As the University continues to grow, these graduate-based earnings impacts will naturally follow suit. Importantly, the University recorded its largest graduating class in school history in 2020.