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.
Middlebury College in Vermont has received a $10 million gift from alumni Ted and Kathy O’Connor Truscott to support faculty and students. The gift will create an endowed professorship in Black studies, expand financial aid for undergraduate and graduate students, and provide unrestricted support for institutional priorities. The new chair in Black studies will honor Deborah G. Thomas, a graduate of the college, who served as a trustee for 15 years. Dr. Thomas earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in American studies at Brown University and served as a lecturer and administrator at Yale University.
Historically Black Florida A&M University received a $4.9 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to fund TRIO Programs designed to serve and assist low-income individuals to help them graduate from high school and succeed in college. Students at Amos P. Godby High School, Griffin Middle School, and Augusta Raa Middle School will be involved in the grant program.
Grambling State University, the historically Black educational inistitution in Louisiana, received a $499,500 grant from the National Science Foundation for a project titled “iMed-Sec: Exploring Hardware-Assisted Solutions for Energy-Efficient Low- Overhead Security and Privacy for the Internet-of-Medical-Things.” The project will address the security concerns of physical devices that are connected to internet.
Apple executive Eddy Cue and his wife Paula have made a $10 million gift to advance diverse faculty hiring and retention at Duke University. The Cues are Duke University alumni. The largest part of the gift will establish the Cue Faculty Fellows — four early-career, diverse faculty hires in the computer science department.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham received a $21.7 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to support the university’s Deep South Center to Reduce Disparities in Chronic Diseases. The center’s goal is to prevent, treat, and manage cardiometabolic diseases among racial minorities — primarily Black Americans — and low-income populations who suffer disproportionately from these diseases.
Germanna Community College in Locust Grove, Virginia, will receive a five-year, $2.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to enhance its support for African American students and provide culturally responsive curriculum and instruction. The grant will enable the college to hire three faculty members from underrepresented groups and will fund efforts to help faculty and staff implement innovative and culturally responsive models that increase academic support for its low-income Black students.
