Florida Polytechnic professor, wife donate $500,000 to create first endowed chair

Lakeland Ledger
Updated ·1 min read
Florida Polytechnic University professor Muhammad Rashid, second from right in front row, is shown with family members. He and his wife, Fatema Rashid, have donated $500,000 to created the school’s first endowed chair.
Florida Polytechnic University professor Muhammad Rashid, second from right in front row, is shown with family members. He and his wife, Fatema Rashid, have donated $500,000 to created the school’s first endowed chair.

Florida Polytechnic University professor Muhammad Rashid and his wife, Fatema Rashid, have donated $500,000 to created the school’s first endowed chair.

The contribution will fund the Dr. Muhammad Harunur Rashid Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Florida Poly said in a news release. The endowed chair will enable Florida Poly to recruit a top-level faculty member to the university, Rashid said in the release.

Rashid joined Florida Poly in 2017 and serves as a professor of electrical and computer engineering. He has written more than 36 textbooks that have been translated into dozens of languages and are used in more than 50 universities, the release said.

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In 2018, Rashid and his family established the Drs. Muhammad and Fatema Rashid Chess Scholarship Fund with a $25,000 contribution to help Polk County students with a passion for chess pursue higher education at Florida Poly, the release said. He contributed $100,000 in 2019 to create the endowed Drs. Muhammad H. and Fatema Rashid Future Generation Engineering Scholarship for students pursuing degrees in electrical, computer or cybersecurity engineering.

Rashid’s $10,000 gift in 2020 established the ECE Fund for Undergraduate Education to assist students with funding to complete undergraduate education projects, the release said.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Florida Poly professor, wife donate $500,000 to create endowed chair