Regions Financial Corporation has donated $200,000 in unrestricted funds to Brenau University with an eye toward providing scholarship assistance to young women studying business.

    Although the donation was not earmarked for a specific program or named scholarship, Peter D. (Pete) Miller, Southeast regional CEO for Regions, said the financial institution in its charitable giving programs "has a real interest in the education of women."

    "This gift is unrestricted, which means Brenau can do what it thinks best with the money," said Miller, who also serves as chairman of the university´s board of trustees. "Hopefully, over time, it will become seed money for the development of programs that will improve business education for women."

    Brenau was founded as an all-female institution in 1878, and today the Women´s College, with about 900 students on the Gainesville campus, remains the cornerstone of the institution. Although many of the business programs for the university reside in the coeducational Evening and Weekend and Online colleges, women make up a large majority of the entire Brenau student body.

    Brenau President Ed Schrader Regions said stands a great chance of seeing its seed grow "in supporting the efforts of the university to develop programs for women in finance."

    "Regions and its predecessor institutions have always been vital partners for Brenau, not only in terms of providing financial capital for operations and growth, but also in providing human capital with brainpower and vision to help us develop programs that are the most beneficial to the communities we both serve," said Schrader. "We are very grateful for this gift, and we look forward to a strengthening relationship in the future."

    In December the university for the first time presented its Distinguished Service to Brenau award not to an individual but Regions, citing the business for its out-in-front role not only in recognizing the intellectual, cultural and social significance of the university in the community, but also for its economic importance to the region.

    "Chief Justice John Marshall once observed that corporations are invisible entities, what he described as ´an artificial person´," Schrader said during the presentation "This year´s Distinguished Service Award recipient is very much a person in this community. Through work of individuals throughout the organization and through its corporate philanthropy and leadership, Regions Financial Corp. and its predecessor, First National Bank of Gainesville, have made this community a better place to live and have helped make Brenau a better university."

    Regions Financial Corporation is a member of the S&P 100 Index and Forbes Magazine's "Platinum 400" list of America's best big companies. With more than $138 billion in assets, Regions is one of the nation's largest full-service providers of consumer and commercial banking, trust, securities brokerage, mortgage and insurance products and services.