COLUMBIA, SC A television network executive will donate $1 million on Monday to endow scholarships for the University of South Carolinas new aerospace research program named after Challenger astronaut Ronald McNair.

Marva Smalls, a Florence native and USC graduate who is an executive vice president at Viacom and Nickelodeon, said the scholarships will go to minority students from the states Pee Dee region majoring in computer science and engineering.

Hopefully, we are creating the next generation of leaders and scientists, said Smalls, 56. This was a great chance to give back to my hometown.

Like McNair, Smalls grew up in the Pee Dee, the northeast corner of the state that is rural outside of the Florence and the Myrtle Beach area. Smalls now works in New York but has homes in Charleston and Florence, where her 89-year-old mother lives.

Smalls said she wants to give Pee Dee students a chance to get the high-tech, high-paying jobs that come with the states growing aerospace business. Boeing opened its only jet manufacturing plant outside the Seattle area in North Charleston in 2011.

Smalls said she met McNair, a Lake City native killed in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, while working as the chief of staff for then-U.S. Rep. Robin Tallon, a Florence Democrat.

It will be a continuation of his legacy, and I believe that students will identify with him having come from a rural area, she said. We will create a new caliber of scholars that will come from the Pee Dee area.

Smalls becomes the third woman to donate more than $1 million to the USC aerospace center.

Darla Moore, a Lake City financier who is USCs biggest benefactor, kick-started the center in 2011 with a $5 million donation. Anita Zucker, a Charleston businesswoman who is the richest person in the state, gave $5 million last year.

Women have a strong and innate sense to give back, Smalls said. I have a passion for helping kids.

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EXCLUSIVE: USC’s McNair aerospace center gets $1 million donation