Alumni Jeffrey and Annie Millar Endow Business Scholarship

Long-time donors and alumni Jeffrey Millar ’80 and his wife Annie Millar ‘15 recently created the Alumni Business Endowed Scholarship to support a full-time or part-time non-traditional undergraduate student majoring in business.

Jeffrey, who earned a degree in business administration, is the managing director of global subsidiary banking at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.  Annie, who stepped away from her college studies for a number of years to raise their family, returned to William Paterson in 2010 to complete her degree, graduating with a bachelor’s in liberal studies, with a concentration in environmental science, in 2015.

For both of the Millars, establishing the endowed scholarship provides an opportunity to give back to the institution that they say has given them so much. “I was a first-generation college student, like many of the students today at William Paterson,” says Jeffrey.  “I worked for a year between high school and college, which made me realize I needed that college education to better myself.”  He was one of the first students invited to join a then newly created international management honors program, through which he decided to study Chinese, a choice that led to a scholarship from the American Association of State Colleges and Universities to study in Taiwan after graduation, and, ultimately, a 35-year year in international banking. He was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 2001.

The endowment will provide an annual scholarship of $1,000 for a student who is non-traditional, whether in age, family status, or career path. “Both Annie and I were non-traditional students, and we want to provide an opportunity for a student with a similar experience,” he adds. “William Paterson had a profound effect on us, for which we are forever grateful. We are proud to help give a William Paterson student that same opportunity.”