James Cunningham, BEE ’69, and Vicki Cunningham
Wishing to provide opportunities for future generations of full-time Grove School of Engineering undergraduate students at The City College of New York, James Cunningham, BEE ’69 and his wife, Vicki Cunningham, have contributed $1,000,000 to establish the James and Vicki Cunningham Scholarship Fund.
The new endowed fund will generate annual awards of $40,000 to support five full-time Grove School undergraduate students who maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher with scholarships of $8,000 each. The scholarships are to be used for tuition costs and research-related expenses, allowing recipients to continue their studies.
“CCNY did very well by me,” said Cunningham, who graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School in 1961 before serving at the U.S. Air Force’s Strategic Air Command based at Westover (Mass.) Air Force Base for four years. He then attended CCNY on the GI Bill, studying for his degree in electrical engineering while paying $27 a semester. “I entered as a 22-year-old freshman,” he said. “I was the old man in the classroom.”
Cunningham earned a doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University before embarking on a 40-year career with various aerospace and defense electronics companies, including TRW, Rockwell International and several small consulting companies. He began in research of acousto-optic technologies for the Defense Advanced Research Agency, but soon transitioned to systems engineering of missile detection and tracking systems for the military. He finished his career as the system engineering manager of a major satellite program back at TRW (now part of Northrop Grumman).
“The Cunninghams’ generosity will enable future engineers to focus on their studies, secure summer internships, and graduate on time, unburdened by financial stresses,” said Senior Vice President of the Office of Institutional Advancement, Communications and External Relations Dee Dee Mozeleski. “We are grateful for their ongoing commitment to engineering education in New York and it has been wonderful to work with them on the development of this new gift.”
The Grove School of Engineering at The City College of New York is the only public school of engineering in New York City and one of the most diverse engineering schools in the nation. Established in 1919 as the City College School of Technology and renamed the School of Engineering in 1962, it was renamed once again in 2005 as the Grove School of Engineering after the largest single donation ever made to the College, by Andrew Grove ’60, a Hungarian immigrant who co-founded Intel Corp. in 1968.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers, and society. At City College, more than 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity, and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together,” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College's mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic, and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Syd Steinhardt
212-650-7875
ssteinhardt@ccny.cuny.edu