{"id":854,"date":"2017-08-22T10:44:15","date_gmt":"2017-08-22T14:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/?p=854"},"modified":"2019-02-11T12:27:21","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T17:27:21","slug":"engineering-scholarship-designed-to-change-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/2017\/08\/22\/engineering-scholarship-designed-to-change-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"Engineering scholarship designed to change lives"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"In
In 2015, Derrick Kuzak, second from right, was honored with the University\u2019s Spirit of Detroit Mercy Alumni Achievement Award. He is pictured at the event with his daughter, Allison, left, wife, Kate, and University President Antoine M. Garibaldi.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Derrick Kuzak \u201973, \u201974, \u201976, did not know exactly how his life would be transformed when he enrolled in the University of Detroit. But he now knows he can help transform the lives of others by helping them along a path to success that begins with a Detroit Mercy education.<\/p>\n

The new Kuzak Family Foundation Scholarship celebrates the educational process at Detroit Mercy and the University\u2019s partnership with Ford Motor Co., where Kuzak served as group vice president for global product development when he retired four years ago. It was created with his wife, Kate, and daughter Allison with a substantial gift from the family foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aspects of my University of Detroit education that made the most impact on me are just as relevant in distinguishing the University today,\u201d Kuzak said. \u201cThat speaks to their importance and the continuity of the University\u2019s mission \u2014 and you can\u2019t say that about many organizations over a 40- or 50-year span.\u201d<\/p>\n

His praise begins with the quality of the faculty and their dedication to teaching.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the relatively small class sizes, there becomes a mentoring relationship, where students discuss what they\u2019re learning with very smart people, which helps raise the level of understanding,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The University\u2019s team-centered approach to class projects and work also was of use in Kuzak\u2019s career: \u201cTeamwork skills are very important, because no one does anything alone in industry, and knowing how to interact well with others is vital.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there are the internships, which Kuzak called \u201cinvaluable.\u201d As a 19-year-old, he took his first plane flight to Washington, D.C., where he spent his first of three semesters working internships at the National Security Agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t just learning about engineering, I was learning how to be an adult in a professional setting,\u201d he said. \u201cHow to dress and how to ask questions at meetings, and learning these skills early helped later.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, the Jesuit values not only informed his career, but his personal life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese Catholic values of integrity\u2014doing what you say you will, teamwork\u2014the team is more important than the individual, as well as humility are important and become more significant throughout the years,\u201d he said. \u201cJesuits think of service to the community and to the church, and that is also how you lead, as a servant to your team.\u201d<\/p>\n

In his years with Ford, Kuzak grew to realize how important a partnership between the automaker and the University could be. Through joint efforts, the two created a truly unique relationship for 25 years that benefited both the University, which received funding and opportunities for its students, and Ford, whose employees became better contributors through special industry-oriented programs developed by Detroit Mercy.<\/p>\n

The Kuzak Family Foundation Scholarship was created to further strengthen those ties, he said. Each year, two students from populations that are underrepresented in the engineering fields will receive tuition assistance and guaranteed co-ops in Ford Product Development throughout their education, a major step in a pathway to a career in automotive engineering at Ford. \u00a0Ford has generously agreed to fund an additional scholarship each year.<\/p>\n

Because the scholarships follow each recipient through their four years at Detroit Mercy, by the fourth year of the scholarship, eight students each year will benefit from the Kuzak scholarship.\u00a0 And the two graduating seniors each year will have the opportunity to join the product development organization at Ford Motor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis very significant gift from Dr. Kuzak and his family makes it possible for eight deserving students to have an excellent education in the STEM fields annually and for many years to come,\u201d said University President Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D. \u201cAs a three-time engineering alumnus who rose to the senior executive level at Ford Motor Company, Derrick\u2019s professional achievements and his dedication to service will hopefully inspire Kuzak Family Scholars to follow a similar path.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Kuzak\u2019s participation does not end with the scholarship. It did not begin there, either. He is a longtime supporter, a Spirit of Detroit Mercy Alumni Achievement honoree and said he was honored to serve on the University\u2019s Board of Trustees. He and his family have also committed their time and experience as mentors to the students who receive the scholarships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be fun for us to get to know the students and will hopefully be meaningful for them,\u201d Kuzak said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel blessed to help provide deserving students from economically disadvantaged circumstances the opportunity to have the same path to an exciting and fulfilling career as I had,\u201d Kuzak said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Derrick Kuzak \u201973, \u201974, \u201976, did not know exactly how his life would be transformed when he enrolled in the University of Detroit. But he now knows he can help transform the lives of others by helping them along a path to success that begins with a Detroit Mercy education. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[9,10,33],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-dM","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2175,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854\/revisions\/2175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}