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 School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley has received a $6 million gift from Bob and Colleen Haas to establish the Thelton E. Henderson ’62 Chair in Civil Rights Law. While attending Berkeley Law, Henderson was just one of two Black students in his class. He later became the first Black attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the federal bench, where he served for nearly four decades.
Texas Southern University was awarded a National Institutes of Health grant worth nearly $21.5 million to expand the HBCU’s Center for Biomedical and Health Research. The funding will support both research infrastructure upgrades, as well as interdisciplinary collaboration across biomedical, behavioral, and clinical fields.
A team of scholars at Rust College in Mississippi has received a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to integrate real-world scientific research opportunities into the HBCU’s undergradaute chemistry and biology courses. While many college science labs ask students to follow instructions to complete pre-made experiments, the new initiative at the college will allow students to work on projects where no one knows the outcome, such as synthesizing brand-new molecules and testing their biological properties.
Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolinam recently received a $721,960 gift from the estate of Dorothy M. Haith, a 1952 alumna of the HBCU who went on to have a distinguished career as an educator and librarian. Haith’s gift will help advance Shaw’s academic programs, student success initiatives, and community engagement efforts.
Historically Black Prairie View A&M University in Texas, has received a $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to expand research on improving voice assistant technology. The funding will be used to create new algorithms and practical tools that strengthen the reliability of voice interactions in smart home environments.
