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.
Historically Black Florida A&M University in Tallahassee received three grants totaling more than $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The funds will be used to support agricultural science programs with equipment and facilities improvements.
Central State University, the historically Black educational institution in Wilberforce, Ohio, received a $1 million donation from businessman and radio journalist Josh Smith. He is chair and managing partner of The Coaching Group, a consulting firm. Smith is a graduate of Central State University and did graduate work in law and business administration at the University of Akron and Central Michigan University.
Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, received a five-year, $134,932 grant from the National Science Foundation for a program entitled “Gesture and Learning: Implications for African American Children’s Language Development. The grant program is under the direction of Makeba P. Wilbourn, an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience. Dr. Wilbourn holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, Fullerton and earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Cornell University.
Historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta received a $1 million grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation that will be used to establish an endowed scholarship fund for students from the African nations of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda.
