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.
The University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering received a three-year, $3 million grant from Lockheed Martin. The grant will fund work related to vertical takeoff and landing research at the school’s rotorcraft lab. The funds will also be used to support the Clark School’s Center for Minorities in Science and Engineering. The Center looks to increase the enrollment of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields.
The Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis received a five-year, $3 million grant to fund an intervention program aimed at reducing HIV risk for women sex workers in Uganda. Nearly 1,000 women will be given either savings accounts, financial literacy skills, or vocational training. Investigators hope that improving the women’s financial situations and job prospects will result in less sexual risk-taking and limit the spread of HIV.
Historically Black Morris Brown College in Atlanta has received a $500,000 grant from the National Park Service. The college, which lost its accreditation in 2002, intends to use the money for its Fountain Hall Restoration Project. Fountain is a historic building on the college’s campus. It is the oldest surviving building — built in 1812 — originally owned by Atlanta University. Fountain Hall was declared a national landmark in 1974 and is named after Bishop William A. Fountain — a former Georgia bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Florida A&M University, Florida Memorial Univerity, and Bethune Cookman-University, three historically Black educational institutions in Florida are sharing in a $2.4 million grant from the National Science Foundation for programs to increase the number of women from underrepresented groups who are seeking doctorate in STEM fields. Under the terms of the grant, the Florida Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriatewill work with 300 doctoral, postdoctoral and early-career minority women faculty to advance their careers in STEM.
