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 College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Institute of Public Health at historically Black Florida A&M University, has received a $3.38 million grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Institute of Environmental Health to study the contributing factors in Parkinson’s disease. The five-year award will allow scientists to research how manganese causes toxicity in the brain, resulting in Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms called manganism.
Historically Black Virginia State University has received a $100,000 gift from alumna Valeria K. Brown, current member and former rector of the HBCU’s board of visitors. Under her leadership as rector, Dr. Brown oversaw the development of the Alfred W. Harris Academic Commons. Recently opened in June, the building will serve as the new home for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the College of Education.
Howard Rambsy II, distinguished research professor of literature at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, has been awarded a $1.6 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the expansion of the Black Lit Network, a digital resource dedicated to African American literary studies. The new funding will be used to develop a literature search tool and other public resources, a podcast exploring popular and critical responses to African American literary works, and a digital storytelling and data visualization platform.
Historically Black North Carolina Central University has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the Walton Family Foundation to address barriers to career pathways for young men in North Carolina’s Research Triangle region. Led by professors Tryan McMickens and Jim Harper II, the two-year study will examine the challenges faced by “opportunity youth,” referring to young men, ages 18 to 24, who are disconnected from education or employment.
Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida, has received a nearly $900,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to upgrade the HBCU’s technology infrastructure. The project will initially focus on reconstructing the network with new fiber lines and switches, strengthening cybersecurity protection, improving connectivity for faculty research and remote learning, and developing more resilient disaster recovery systems. In 2027, the project will shift to evaluating how the new infrastructure enhances cybersecurity without comprising usability.
The trustees of Indiana University have received a $299,997 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for their “Frederick Douglass Papers Digital Edition” project. The funds will support the preparation for publication of an online resources of more than 13,000 speeches, letters, and other writings of the African American social reformer, writer, and statesmen, Frederick Douglass.
The University of Maryland has received a $300,000 grant from the National Endowment of Humanities to publish volumes nine and ten of Freedom: A Documentary History of Emancipation, 1861-1867. Led by the Freedmen and Southern Society Project, the publication contains some 50,000 documents that feature the first-person experiences of liberated slaves and defeated slaveholders, soldiers and civilians, common folk and the elite, and Northerners and Southerners from the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 through the beginning of Reconstruction in 1867.
Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina has received a $200,000 grant from the National Endowment for Humanities for a new project led by Tomisha Brock, director of bands and assistant professor of music. The HBCU’s two-year project will investigate the role of music in shaping cultural identities, fostering educational innovation, and advancing technological integration throughout North Carolina.
