KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A member of the University of Tennessee’s first Southeastern Conference basketball championship team has established a scholarship for cooperative engineering programs at UT-Knoxville.
Herschel “Abe” Brand, a 1938 UT-Knoxville electrical engineering graduate, joins the ranks of UT’s Benefactor’s Society with the establishment of the Herschel C. and Louise Runnion Brand Engineering Scholarship Endowment.
Brand, who lives in Newport, said the gift will help perpetuate the memory of his late wife, whom he met at UT.
“She was my driving force,” Brand said. “If I can keep her name in the limelight, then my mission is accomplished. College life brought us together, and in this way we perhaps can help someone else accomplish their dream.”
Brand came to UT in 1933 from Ooltewah, Tenn. He did co-op work with the Bureau of Public Roads and the Tennessee Electric Power Company in Ocoee, Tenn.
He also was a member of the UT basketball team. When it won the SEC championship in 1936, the team was given a gold basketball and a medal, he said.
Brand’s gift is part of UT’s 21st Century Campaign. Walter Odom, director of the college’s co-op program, said it creates the major award in the college’s cooperative engineering program.
“Our students face increasing challenges during and after undergraduate study,” Odom said, “Thanks to friends like Abe Brand, co-op engineers will benefit from those standards of achievement. We appreciate the support of Mr. Brand and see that his co-op experience had a tremendous impact on his life.”
Brand worked 27 years for Schlumberger Well Survey Corp. in Houston. In 1966, he formed his own consulting firm to assist oil companies in drilling and completion
of oil wells.
Brand recently retired and moved to Newport, where he is active in community volunteer work and amateur radio.
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Contact: Dara Wade (423-974-2779)