2010 Sustainability Report - Cummins.com

The LeMoyne-Owen College
Memphis, Tennessee
Significant partnerships
Neighborly
behavior helps
college in Memphis
Editor’s note: Cummins is engaged in a number
of significant partnerships on the key topics
of education, the environment and social
responsibility/improving the human condition.
Here’s a look at one:
Fourteen years ago, Cummins stepped in
to help a neighbor in Memphis, Tenn. That
neighbor happened to be a university in need
of a computer lab.
In 1996, The Cummins Foundation donated
$100,000 to build the lab at LeMoyne-Owen
College – but the donations didn’t stop with
money. Employees stepped in to set up the
computers and train students and faculty on
how to use the software.
Cummins, which has a distribution center and a
manufacturing plant in Memphis, and the college
have been partners ever since.
LeMoyne-Owen is one of the United States’
Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
It was founded in 1862 as LeMoyne College and
became a four-year college in 1934. It merged
with Owen Junior College in 1968, becoming
LeMoyne-Owen College.
Located less than three miles from downtown
Memphis, the college currently has 854 students,
a number the school hopes to see increase with
the help of Cummins.
When LeMoyne-Owen was threatened with
losing its accreditation in 2006 because of a
lack of funds, The Cummins Foundation
donated $600,000 over three years and worked
with LeMoyne-Owen employees on a Six Sigma
project on recruitment.
Enrollment went up 23 percent, according to
LeMoyne President Johnnie B. Watson, who
says the school will close the upcoming fiscal
year $1 million in the black. Now, LeMoyne-Owen
is looking at how it can improve in the future,
with Cummins’ help on a new strategic plan.
“We have representatives from Cummins to help
us develop the plan, specifically [in] the Office of
Institutional Advancement,” Watson said.
“That office does marketing for the college and
raises money for the college. All indications are
this year will surpass last year, and things are
getting better.”
A Six Sigma project has also been launched with
Cummins employees and LeMoyne-Owen staff.
This project will focus on student retention.
Cummins’ Community Involvement Team in
Memphis also hosts the Hank Aaron Celebrity
Sports Weekend, a fundraiser that brought in
$75,000 for LeMoyne-Owen last year –
including a $25,000 contribution from
Cummins’ Memphis operations.
102 Cummins Inc. Sustainability Report 2010