The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Foundation has given $66,100 to support research, scholarships and extension efforts by the North Carolina State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
The company's gift will provide support to researchers breeding plants that are resistant to blue mold and black shank, two diseases that infect tobacco, and to investigate characteristics of cut-strip tobacco, the process of cutting tobacco leaves before curing.
Money from the gift also will be used to support graduate students working in tobacco projects and provide scholarships for undergraduates. In particular, $10,000 will go toward the Durward and Shirley Bateman Scholarship Endowment in honor of Dean Durward Bateman who retires this month as dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Is a major operating unit of RJR Nabisco Inc., an international consumer products company.