Here is this week’s news of grants won by historically black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
The School of Nursing at the University of California at Los Angeles received a five-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, for a program to increase physical activity among youth in the predominantly minority Los Angeles public schools. Project SHAPE LA is targeting 24 middle schools in low-income neighborhoods of Los Angeles. The program will involve about 12,000 students.
The grant program is under the direction of Kynna Wright-Volel, an assistant professor at the UCLA School of Nursing. Dr. Wright-Volel is a graduate of the UCLA Schools of Public Health and Nursing. She received her masters of science in nursing, a master of public health degree and a Ph.D. from the UCLA School of Public Health.
Historically Black Grambling State University in Louisiana received a $50,000 Visiting Journalism Professor Program grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The grant brings Will Sutton, veteran journalist, to campus for the spring semester to teach two courses on business journalism. Sutton has been a reporter and editor for Gannett, Knight-Ridder, and McClatchy newspapers. He is past president of the National Association of Black Journalists.
The College of Nursing at the University of Texas at Arlington received a three-year, $419,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for programs to recruit minority students to its nursing Ph.D. program. Some funds will be allocated to programs for mentoring and academic advising in order to increase retention rates of these students once they are on campus.
The Ph.D. nursing program at the university began in 2003. Today, about 50 students are enrolled in the program.
