By Stephenie Steitzer
Enquirer contributor

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS - The Toyota USA Foundation has donated $1 million to Northern Kentucky University to enhance science and math education.

Half of the $1 million grant, announced Tuesday morning at NKU's new state-of-the-art science facility, will go to fund high-end science instrumentation, including an electron microscope. The new NKU Natural Science Center opened in August.

The other half will be used to expand NKU's Young Scholars in Math and Science Program, which sponsors summer camps and other programs to develop skills for students in preschool through 12th grade.

"Programs to develop young scholars in the areas of math and science are what the Toyota USA Foundation looks for when making funding decisions," said Art Niimi, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, North America, which is headquartered in Erlanger.

NKU President Joseph Votruba said, "This is a historical day for Northern Kentucky University, for Toyota and for the future of this region."

Both Mr. Votruba and Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president of TMMNA, praised the cooperation of the two entities, which began in 1996 when Toyota started doing business in Northern Kentucky.

Toyota has had operations in Kentucky since the 1980s, when then-Gov. Martha Layne Collins brokered a deal with the Japanese to bring a plant to make the Camry automobile to Georgetown, Ky.

A new high school for Georgetown and other community improvements were funded by more than $30 million that will be given to the Scott County school system over 20 years in lieu of tax payments. In other philanthropic giving, Toyota has donated $1 million to create a Georgetown community center, $2 million to expand the University of Kentucky Library System and $1 million to help build a new Kentucky History Center. Toyota has also contributed more than $6 million to a variety of Kentucky organizations, including the United Way, Fund for the Arts, Governor's Scholars Program and the Nature Conservancy.