Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina received a $150,000 grant from the Thurgood Marshall College Fund to support efforts to increase retention and graduation rates of the university’s students. The funds will help junior and senior students who need additional funds in order to complete their degree. To qualify for the financial aid, students must have a 3.0 grade point average or higher.
The University of Georgia received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to develop a milk cooler designed to help farmers in sub-Saharan African who do not have access to electricity. The cooler runs on biogas powered by cow manure. The project is the brainchild of William Kisaalita, a professor in the university’s College of Engineering. Dr. Kisaalita is a graduate of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and holds a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of British Columbia.
Chicago State University received a five-year, $1.97 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a meditation program to combat substance abuse in underserved urban communities. The Chicago Urban Mindfulness and Additions Research program is led by Ehab A. Abourashed and Abir Taha El-Alfy.
Historically Black Tuskegee University in Alabama received a $1.5 million grant from Monsanto Inc. and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to construct plant biotechnology research laboratories in Henderson Hall, a new science building on campus.
The University of Cincinnati received a $75,000 grant from the Hearst Foundations to support scholarships for students in the university’s Emerging Ethnic Engineers program.
Howard University, the historically Black educational institution in Washington, D.C., received a $250,000 grant from the Lilly Endowment. The funds will be use to train students in the university’s School of Divinity on financial matters.
