Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Clark Atlanta University received a $1 million gift from Kenya and Rainbow Barris that will establish a scholarship fund at the historically Black university that will be named in their honor. The scholarships will benefit Clark Atlanta students majoring in mass media and biology. Kenya Barris is the producer and a writer for the ABC Television comedy Black-ish. Dr. Rainbow Barrow is an anesthesiologist. Both Kenya and Rainbow Barris are graduates of Clark Atlanta University.
Historically Black University of Arkansas Pine Bluff received a $2.5 million donation from Simmons Bank, which is headquartered in Pine Bluff. The gift is the largest ever received by the university. The money will be used to fund a new scoreboard and turf field at the university’s football stadium and to complete a pavilion at the baseball and softball complex.
Tougaloo College, the historically Black educational institution in Mississippi, received a three-year $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation for a study on the biochemical links between sleep, diet, and Alzheimer’s disease.