(l-r) Nyack/ATS President Dr. Michael G. Scales, Nyack Assistant Treasurer Dona Schepens, Assistant Vice President of the M&T Bank Commercial Lending Group Jennifer Kooney, Rockland campus scholarship recipient Suzette Smith, Regional President M&T Bank Paula Mandell, and Administrative Vice President and Group Manager of M&T Bank, Ira Brown.

Officials from M&T Bank recently visited Nyack College to present its 2006 scholarships. Two sophomores, Suzette Smith, of the Rockland County campus and Elaine Leung, from the Manhattan campus, were awarded $500 each.

Since 2004, M&T Bank has donated a total of $15,000 to Nyack College, establishing the M&T Bank Minority Scholarship Endowment Fund. Along with their $1,000 gift this year, M&T Bank continues to grow the endowed M&T Scholarship Fund to benefit future Nyack students who have a minimum 3.0 grade point average and demonstrated leadership qualities. An endowment of $25,000 is M&T’s goal, in addition to the annual financial award for students until the earnings from the endowment fund the scholarships. The move to establish the endowment is a demonstration of M&T Bank’s commitment to invest in students with promise. This principle aligns with the college’s core value to be intentionally diverse—providing educational access and support to motivated students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds.

M&T Bank officials, Paula Mandell, Regional President; Ira Brown, Administrative Vice President and Commercial Lending Group Manager and Jennifer Kooney, Assistant Vice President in M&T’s Commercial Lending Group, were joined by Nyack’s new president, Dr. Michael G. Scales and Assistant Treasurer Dona Schepens to make the presentation.

With a long history of collaborating with educational institutions and community-based organizations, M&T Bank is among the 20 largest bank holding companies in the nation. Nyack has enjoyed a relationship with M&T Bank for nearly a dozen years.