The late Mark Kawamura '79, former industrial engineering student who the memorial scholarship was named after. |
Image: Courtesy of Mia McCallum
Mia McCallum has established the Mark Kawamura '79 Memorial Scholarship. Distributions from this endowment will be used to provide one or more scholarships to full-time students in good standing pursuing an undergraduate degree from the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University.
McCallum created this endowment in honor of her late husband Mark Kawamura who graduated from Texas A&M in 1979 with his degree in industrial engineering. “He wished to give back to the university that provided him with the education that helped shape his happy life and his successful career,” she said.
McCallum said Kawamura's degree from Texas A&M opened up the world for him. “He traveled both domestically and overseas for work and met wonderful people,” she said. “His life and career were enriched by his experiences, friends and degree from Texas A&M. Throughout his life he enjoyed helping others using his problem-solving and technical skills.”
Since Kawamura grew up as a proud farmer in the Rio Grande Valley, McCallum established this gift as a means to encourage and nurture young talent from the Valley to get their engineering degree and contribute their talents as practicing engineers. “Mark’s hope was for others to experience the joy and diversity an engineering degree can provide.”
McCallum is also an engineer and said she and Kawamura were always so thankful for how much they enjoyed their careers, the challenge of problem solving and the connections they built with their colleagues.
“Mark started his career at Texas Instruments, made the transition to Raytheon Company, then finished up his career at IBM,” she said. “He spent many years recruiting engineers from Texas A&M and also mentored and coached many younger engineers through the years. He took such pleasure in seeing others being fulfilled by their engineering careers.”
It is McCallum’s wish to honor Kawamura by helping others discover how great the Texas A&M College of Engineering is and to encourage more students to graduate with their degree in engineering.
McCallum has made additional preferences that this scholarship be awarded to students with a sophomore or higher classification and a student from the Rio Grande Valley.
McCallum created this endowment in honor of her late husband Mark Kawamura who graduated from Texas A&M in 1979 with his degree in industrial engineering. “He wished to give back to the university that provided him with the education that helped shape his happy life and his successful career,” she said.
McCallum said Kawamura's degree from Texas A&M opened up the world for him. “He traveled both domestically and overseas for work and met wonderful people,” she said. “His life and career were enriched by his experiences, friends and degree from Texas A&M. Throughout his life he enjoyed helping others using his problem-solving and technical skills.”
Since Kawamura grew up as a proud farmer in the Rio Grande Valley, McCallum established this gift as a means to encourage and nurture young talent from the Valley to get their engineering degree and contribute their talents as practicing engineers. “Mark’s hope was for others to experience the joy and diversity an engineering degree can provide.”
McCallum is also an engineer and said she and Kawamura were always so thankful for how much they enjoyed their careers, the challenge of problem solving and the connections they built with their colleagues.
“Mark started his career at Texas Instruments, made the transition to Raytheon Company, then finished up his career at IBM,” she said. “He spent many years recruiting engineers from Texas A&M and also mentored and coached many younger engineers through the years. He took such pleasure in seeing others being fulfilled by their engineering careers.”
It is McCallum’s wish to honor Kawamura by helping others discover how great the Texas A&M College of Engineering is and to encourage more students to graduate with their degree in engineering.
McCallum has made additional preferences that this scholarship be awarded to students with a sophomore or higher classification and a student from the Rio Grande Valley.
How to Give
The College of Engineering is one of the leading engineering programs in the United States, ranking first in undergraduate enrollment and ninth in graduate enrollment. Endowments supporting the students in the college have an immeasurable impact on their education. If you are interested in supporting the College of Engineering and its departments or would like more information on how you can give, please contact Stephanie Lampe, director of development.