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 American Electric Power Foundation has awarded $250,000 grants to four historically Black colleges and universities. The grants are part of the Foundation’s Delivering on the Dream: Social and Racial Justice Grants program, which is a five-year, $5 million commitment to fund organizations with programs dedicated to advancing social and racial justice in communities American Electric Power serves. The four HBCUs receiving grants are Bluefield State College in West Virginia, Southern University-Shreveport, Jarvis Christian College in Hawkins, Texas, and Wiley College in Marshall, Texas.
Historically Black Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina has received a $177,566 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to aid in the creation of new materials for the development of electric aircraft, vehicles, ships, space platforms, and directed energy missions. The grant will fund the acquisition of specialized equipment for materials science and engineering research including a high-powered capacitance voltage instrument, an extremely high-temperature furnace, and a rapid thermal annealing furnace. The grant program is under the direction of A. Victor Adedeji, an associate professor of physics at the university.
Florida State University researchers, in partnership with historically Black Florida A&M University, have received a five-year, $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to enhance diversity in the field of education research. The grant will support the continuation of the Partners United for Research Pathways Oriented to Social Justice in Education (PURPOSE) training program. Launched in 2017, the program trains diverse cohorts of students in research with a focus on social justice in education. Students who participate in the program receive a stipend and funding for travel and research materials along with one-on-one relationships with faculty mentors.
Historically Black Clark Atlanta University has received a four-year, $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration. Funds from the grant are used to pay for scholarships to 28 students in the clinical year of research working for a master of social work degree or to be a licensed professional counselor.
Tuskegee University in Alabama and Alcorn State Univerity in Mississippi are participating in the Thrive Program established by agricultural giant Cargill Inc. The program includes scholarships and also provides students with mentoring, development programming, and career coaching. “To feed a growing world, we need diverse perspectives at the table that drive innovation. The thrive program invests in the next generation of leaders who will make the future of food and agriculture more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, and who we hope will build long-term careers at Cargill,” explained Myriam Beatove, chief human resources officer at Cargill.
Four historically Black universities – Alabama A&M University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and Prairie View A&M University – are each receiving $1.25 million grants from Apple Inc. The grant will fund lab space, guest lectures, scholarships and fellowships, faculty training, and curriculum support.
