Linda and Terry McCartney "New Day" Scholarship

A conversation with Terry McCartney
Why did you choose to create a scholarship at Auburn University?
We originally wanted to include kids who had a particular profile in our estate via a planned gift. That profile included kids who came from dysfunctional family situations and may have included abuse, neglect, foster care or other similar circumstances. Auburn University is a stable, enduring institution that will likely exist indefinitely into the future. At this time we expect our estate gift to be large, and we wanted the gift proceeds to have a long life-span. We also decided to start with a current gift. Lastly, I have had a long-term relationship with Auburn, including living for a short period in Auburn as a child, returning for my college career including graduation, and meeting my wife, who is a two-time Auburn graduate. So Auburn University met all of our criteria as a place to serve even beyond our lifetime.

What would you want recipients of this scholarship to know about you or the person(s) for whom it is named?
We are interested in supporting them and seeing them succeed in life. We don’t have kids or grandkids, but we have been blessed to have resources, which we want to share with young people who are striving to make a contribution in life by obtaining a good education and overall collegiate life experience.

Tell us about your Auburn story, favorite tradition, a “War Eagle!” moment, or what Auburn has meant to you.
My family moved to Auburn in 1960 for a short while and then to Opelika, where my father worked for Southern Bell Telephone, and that was the beginning point of my Auburn relationship. I returned for college in 1970 and was a struggling student. In Fall 1974 I had a class with a girl who was roommate with my roommate’s girl friend. Forty-two years later we are still together. Linda was an excellent student and obtained an undergraduate degree in math. Following that she obtained a Master’s in Industrial Engineering, which was the home of the Computer Science curriculum. She was one of a very few female engineering students at the time.

I’ve seen a lot of football games but rarely attend in person now. I am interested in promoting Auburn’s successes beyond just athletics, so I am more likely to want to tell people about the Auburn grad who is CEO of the most successful company in the history of the world (Apple) than I am to talk football. (Sometimes a little of both).

What do you hope your recipients gain through receiving this scholarship?
I hope this gives them a start towards completion of a life experience phase that will enable them to achieve their goals in their next phase of life, including career, family, and citizenship goals. And I hope they know that any struggles or misfortunes that they may have experienced in the past will be behind them when they complete their degree and move on to a “New Day.”