Altria Group to donate $1.5M to VCU

Published September 18, 2012 6:41am ET



RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Altria Group Inc. is donating $1.5 million to Virginia Commonwealth University’s da Vinci Center for Innovation.

The Richmond-based parent company of the nation’s largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, announced the donation during an event Monday.

VCU’s da Vinci Center is an interdisciplinary program that brings art, business and engineering students together to collaborate on projects. Those project are often solving problems submitted by businesses.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports (http://bit.ly/SVbTXd ) that the donation will help support plans to enroll more students in the program and buy equipment. It also will support a program in which VCU students help to teach local middle school students about science, technology, engineering and math.

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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch, http://www.timesdispatch.com