The Ford Motor Co. Fund, the philanthropic arm of the automaker, is donating $5 million to Wayne State University over the next five years to fund engineering, business, occupational health, libraries and foreign language programs.

The grant will allow Wayne State to provide an education to all groups of people, WSU President Irvin D. Reid says. Reid also says the Ford money will give the school "technological and curricular tools to assist students in meeting the challenges of today's global economy."

WSU's College of Engineering will use the gift for programs to help minorities and women through the Women In Engineering training program and the High School Engineering Training Institute.

The Higher Learning Education Program will use part of the Ford grant to tutor and counsel undergraduate engineering students.

Part of the money will help pay for the Student Honors Program for Minority Excellence -- a part of the School of Business Administration. Through the program, students work in Detroit businesses to gain "laboratory" experience for their studies.

The College of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions will use the grant to help fund its Environmental Exposure Facility, which will assess the effects of inhalation exposure to irritants, particulate and microbial products, the university reports.

That department will also use the money to support the Ford Motor Company Minority Scholarship Fund. The fund gives assistance to minority students for tuition, books and research.

The College of Liberal Arts' Foreign Language Technology Center will convert the current audio laboratory and classroom into a 120-seat distance learning facility for foreign language and cultural instruction.

WSU's David Adamany Undergraduate Library will use part of the Ford grant to add another 10,000 volumes to its collection.

This isn't the first time Ford partnered with the university. The company recently gave $1 million to help build the Manufacturing Engineering Building.

Ford also has supported the university's research efforts, and has helped prepare students for career demands when they graduate.

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