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.
Southern University, the historically Black educational institution in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, received a $1 million gift from alumni Mark and Dawn Malveaux. The gift will support academic scholarships for talented business students and general programming in the College of Business. The gift is one of the largest donations ever given to the university by alumni of the institution. The MBA program at the business school will be named in their honor.
Washington University in St. Louis received $1.9 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for programs to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among Black residents of St. Louis and St. Louis County.
Historically Black Dillard University in New Orleans has received a $1 million grant from the Ray Charles Organization to create a scholarship in food studies. The donation will support the university’s Ray Charles Program in African-American Material Culture, which launched a food studies minor in the spring of 2020.
The School of Law at historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C., has been awarded a $10 million grant from the Jerome L. Greene Foundation for the creation and support of the Greene Public Service Scholars Program. The program will support and cultivate exceptional law students committed to a career in public service law. The grant is the largest donation in the history of the Howard University School of Law.
The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff announced that the Synchrony Foundation is giving $500,000 to the historically Black university as part of a new initiative to advance education equity and economic opportunity for students and underserved communities. The grant will help low-income and underrepresented students graduate college and offer guidance for future career endeavors by providing scholarships, business mentorships, and internships. Students will also have access to free online financial literacy courses on topics such as saving, budgeting, and student loans.
Historically Black Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina, received a $250,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct research on bacteria resistance mechanisms. The award money will help purchase equipment to support two fundamental microbiology laboratories and to purchase statistical analysis software to analyze and explain microbiological research.
