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.
Elizabeth City State University, a historically Black educational institution in North Carolina, has received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to integrate basic Python programming skills into the HBCU’s curriculum. Through the grant, leaders at Elizabeth City State University plan to establish a new minor in social computing or social data analytics. The new funds will be used to purchase 30 to 40 laptops for students studying data analysis, develop a new laboratory setting, and provide training stipends for both students and faculty.
Mississippi State University Libraries has been awarded a $123,403 grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources for a new project, “Freedom Means: Digitizing Hidden Stories of Black Mississippians’ Fight for Civil Rights.” The project aims to establish a free online collection of materials relating to Mississippi’s civil rights history, including records from community organizers and the university’s Black alumni.
The department of physics at Albion College in Michigan has received a $200,00 grant from TEAM-UP Together Expanding eXpertise, Championing Excellence and Leadership, a collaboration between the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Astronomical Society, the American Institute of Physics, the American Physical Society, and the Society of Physics Students. The grant will support the college in fostering inclusion in physics and astronomy, with a particular focus on increasing the number of Black students pursuing undergraduate degrees in the discipline.
Historically Black North Carolina Central University in Durham, has been awarded a $1 million grant from Google to establish the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Equity Research. The institute will provide students with AI-related academic and mentorship opportunities, as well as serve as a hub for AI research within the HBCU network.
The College of Nursing and Allied Health at hisotircally Black Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has received a $5 million gift from Our Lady of the Lake Health, a nonprofit Catholic healthcare ministry. Bringing together local community leaders, academics, and healthcare experts, the donation will fund new collaborative health outreach programs aimed at addressing social disparities in the northern Baton Rouge area.
