Hauppauge Ad Agency awards tuition assistance and ongoing mentorship.
Hauppauge, NY (February 15, 2021) – Austin Williams, a full-service marketing, advertising, digital and public relations agency located in Hauppauge, NY, today announced it has awarded its first “Opportunity Scholarship in Marketing/Communications/New Media” to assist minorities and students of color achieve their aspirations of a degree and a career in advertising and marketing.
St. Joseph’s College (SJC) sophomore Adrian Santiago, 19, of Rockaway Park, NY will receive $2,500 in annual tuition assistance and mentorship and an eventual paid internship at Austin Williams in her junior and senior years.
“I’m honored to have been nominated by my professors and selected by Austin and Williams for this incredible opportunity,” said Adrian Santiago ’23, a marketing major and honors student at SJC Brooklyn. “The financial support and exposure to the marketing and advertising world is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to launch my career.”
“We’re thrilled to be helping students like Adrian and do our part to make advertising a more diverse industry,” said Eva LaMere, President of Austin Williams. “Every ad agency has an obligation to do something tangible that enables young people of color to pursue a career free from barriers. We’re walking the walk and we invite other agencies to do the same. We want this program to be replicated.”
The AW Scholarship program, in partnership with St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue and Brooklyn, NY, and Molloy College in Rockville Centre, NY, was launched in late 2020 and will ramp up over time, sponsoring a growing number of students each school semester. When fully implemented, the scholarship will simultaneously fund the tuition of four St. Joseph’s College students and four Molloy College students at a total cost of more than $100,000 over the students’ four years of college.
The program will also include paid internships at Austin Williams for those same students in their junior and senior years. Throughout, Austin Williams team members will serve as mentors for the students, assessing their course work, offering advice and providing guidance for their future job prospects.
“At this important moment in history, it’s critical that our actions reflect our words,” said SJC President Donald R. Boomgaarden, Ph.D. “This is the kind of practical partnership we need for our students, that not only helps them in the classroom, but also as they transition into the workforce. We are grateful to Austin Williams for their generosity in funding this scholarship and impactful initiative to promote diversity and inclusion in the areas of marketing and communications at SJC.”
About Austin Williams
Austin Williams is a full-service advertising, marketing, digital and public relations firm, creating ideas that inspire action for clients in the healthcare, higher education, financial services and professional services industries. Certified as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) by the State of New York, the Long Island-based firm was founded in 1992 and was named one of the 100 fastest-growing agencies in the nation. In 2017, it was listed as a “Great Place to Work” by the institute that creates the annual Fortune 100 Great Places to Work list, named to the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies and in 2020 was named a Newsday “Top Places to Work.”
About St. Joseph’s College
St. Joseph’s College has been dedicated to providing a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. Independent and coeducational, the College provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, aiming to prepare each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual and spiritual values, social responsibility and service. Through SJC Brooklyn, SJC Long Island and SJC Online, the College offers degrees in 50 majors, special course offerings and certificates, affiliated and pre-professional programs.
