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.
Neal A. Lester, Foundation Professor of English and founding director of Project Humanities at Arizona State University, received a Teacher-Scholar Vital Workshop Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. The one-year award will support Dr. Lester’s project, “REVIVAL: In Celebration of a Black American Spiritual Metaverse,” which will document and interpret diverse traditions, practices, testimonies, music, artifacts, and worship acts that shape Black American spiritual communities.
Regine Jackson, professor and dean of the humanities, social sciences, media, and arts division at historically Black Morehouse College in Atlanta, received a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for her project, “Mapping the Evolution of Morehouse College.” For this initiative, Dr. Jackson will review archival maps and photographs to document the history of Morehouse’s campus.
A team of scholars at historically Black Howard University in Washington, D.C. received a $148,944 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support “The Hayes Project: Exhibiting the Historical Significance of the Philosophical Views of American Mathematicians.” The three-year project will create a digital repository, traveling exhibition, and teaching materials on the life and work of pioneering mathematician Euphemia Haynes.
Fisk University in Nashville was awarded a $100,000 grant from The Marlene and Spencer Hays Foundation to support the development of the HBCU’s new Student Success Center. The new facility will serve as a centralized hub for resources that help students thrive both academically and professionally, including mental health services, as well as academic coaching, mentoring, and tutoring services.
Taheera Blount, assistant professor of counselor education at historically Black North Carolina Central University, received a $83,634 grant (originated by the National Institutes of Health and awarded to NCCU’s Research Centers in Minority Institutions) to support mental health clinicians in K-12 schools. Dr. Blount’s project will explore how school-based clinicians collaborate with school employees, test a data-tracking system that evaluates the effectiveness of school-based mental health services, and develop a mental health toolkit for clinicians to share with parents, teachers, and administrators.
