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.
Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, received a $200,000 grant from the American Physical Society to operate a national program that aims to improve physics teachers’ ability to address diversity, equity, and inclusion projects in the classroom. The program will be under the direction of Marty Baylor, chair and professor of physics and astronomy at the college.
The Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers Policy Research Center at historically Black Alcorn State University in Mississippi recently received a $710,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture. The grant funds will address local natural resource issues and develop state and community-led conservation leadership for underserved producers. It also will fund training for students for careers in natural resources management.
Winston-Salem State University, the historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, received a $175,000 grant from the Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation to help improve adult college graduation rates in North Carolina. The university will use the funding to launch the Adult Connections and Continuing Education Student Success program, designed to provide adult learners, particularly Black adult learners, an opportunity to complete a baccalaureate degree program in a pathway that positions them for career readiness and/or graduate degree program enrollment.
The University of South Carolina received a $1.5 million grant from Williams. Inc., an energy infrastructure firm. The grant will fund traveling and permanent exhibitions of the university’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research. It will also be used to expand the center’s collection of oral histories, acquire archival collections, and enhance student learning throughout K-12 classrooms in the state.
Historically Black Tougaloo College in Mississippi received a $10 million donation from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife, Patricia Quillin. Half of the gift will endow need-based scholarships, and the other $5 million will help Tougaloo students who are part of a joint program with Brown University, an Ivy League school in Rhode Island.
St. Petersburg College in Florida received a $1.6 million grant from the Phoenix-based Helios Education Foundation to fund the college’s Florida African American Male Experience (FAAME) initiative. The grant will be used to provide financial assistance and other programs to guide Black male high school and college students toward obtaining a college degree.
