Verizon to donate $60,000 to Tufts University

By Allison Knothe, Globe Staff

The Verizon Foundation donated a $60,000 grant to the Tufts University’s Center for Engineering and Education Outreach.

The grant will be used to organize and support an 18-month program is expected to increase interest in engineering for Boston, Medford and Somerville fourth and fifth-grade girls.

During the program, 10 teachers will be selected to attend an engineering workshop at Tufts, in the fall, each of their classrooms will have two undergraduate students working as mentors, and over the summer Tufts will provide 20-40 scholarships that will send students from those classrooms to a Tufts engineering summer camp for girls.

“We’re in the planning stages right now, recruiting teachers and planning out the work for this summer,” said Merredith Portsmore, the Director of Outreach Programs at the Tufts Center for Engineering Education and Outreach.

She hopes to continue the program with the help of Verizon in future years as well.

“We definitely plan to fund more programs that help raise student achievement in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subject areas,” said Stephanie Lee, the regional director of public affairs at Verizon, “We would be definitely open to continuing to work with Tufts University.”