Susan Konig and her family endow a scholarship in CCNY's Grove School of Engineering in memory of their father, 1955 alumnus William F. Konig, Jr.
The family of William F. Konig, Jr. (1934 – 2018), an outstanding scholar-athlete from The City College of New York’s Class of 1955 who went on to pursue a successful career as an engineer and inventor, announces an endowed scholarship in his memory in the Grove School of Engineering.
The William F. Konig, Jr. Scholarship, will support a student in the Grove School’s Department of Electrical Engineering. A standout pitcher and the 1954 Frederic Kramer Baseball Award MVP at CCNY, Konig had been offered three contracts by minor-league clubs before earning his B.S. in EE from the Grove School. He rejected all the contract offers on the advice of his parents, neither of whom had attended college but who strongly believed in the value of education.
Konig then attended Columbia University where he received his master's in EE before going to work for the U.S. Department of Defense designing radar and sonar systems. In the mid-1970s, he was one of three inventors of the first portable “Ophthalmic Ultrasound B-Scan”, a pioneering non-invasive device used to detect abnormalities behind the eye. It uses sound waves to measure and produce detailed images of the human eye. Today, the device is routinely used in most optical exams.
The endowment is the second gift in Konig’s memory by his family to The City College in two years. In 2023, his daughter Susan Konig donated $25,000 to CCNY’s baseball program for equipment, uniforms, and transportation.
“He had a lot to thank City College for, including the exciting time that he had with baseball there,” said Ms. Konig. “It was a very important part of his life. He had success with the invention and he had success with the baseball, and it was just an exciting time in his life.
“The new endowment honors our father and, hopefully, it will help other engineering students and, or, baseball-playing students get relief from some of the tuition bills because he was one of them once.”
In addition, the endowment, according to Konig, is designed to highlight the transformative powers of a CCNY education. “I want students to see how he went from a very poor beginning and through City College, our father was able to transform his life with a lot of hard work.”
Today, CCNY remains a leader in social mobility nationally. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment.
Summing up her father’s twin passions, Konig said: “he’d always wanted to be an engineer. It was kind of in his blood and he was building things as a child. And he was a baseball fanatic as well, not only watching but playing, too.”
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 1.8% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.2 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers and society. At City College, more than 15,000 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign, ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College mission. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Jay Mwamba
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jmwamba@ccny.cuny.edu