The United States Department of Agriculture recently awarded $18.9 million in grants to 19 historically Black colleges and universities to build or improve agricultural and food science research facilities and equipment on their campuses.
The largest grant in the amount of $1,510,894 is to Prairie View A&M University in Texas. Other HBCUs receiving more than $1 million are Fort Valley State University in Georgia, Kentucky State University, Lincoln University in Missouri, North Carolina A&T State University, Central State University in Ohio, and Tennessee State University. A complete list of the awards and descriptions of programs that will be funded by these grants, may be viewed here.
“These awards help colleges and universities make improvements that support cutting-edge academic research and foster 21st century innovation that will shape the future of American agriculture,” said Dr. Joe Leonard, Jr., assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Agriculture. Dr. Leonard is a graduate of Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas. He holds a master’s degree from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a Ph.D. in American history from Howard University in Washington, D.C.
