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.
Alabama A&M University was awarded a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to support Upward Alabama Phase II. Housed in the HBCU’s Cooperative Extension System, the program is designed to strengthen economic opportunity by helping Alabama residents gain workforce skills, earn industry-recognized credentials, and pursue entrepreneurship through technology-enhanced training. The new phase will extend the program’s reach to three additional Alabama counties.
The Institute for International Education’s Center for International Opportunities in Washington, D.C., has provided IIE American Passport Project grants to 40 U.S. colleges and universities, including two HBCUs: Florida A&M University and Virginia State University. The grants will help fund study abroad opportunities for Pell-eligible students by covering the cost of obtaining a U.S. passport. The program prioritizes students early in their higher education experience, providing sufficient time to go through the study abroad planning process with advising and support from students’ home institutions.
Keisha Taylor, executive director of student health services at Norfolk State University in Virginia, was awarded a $150,000 grant from the Jeffress Trust Awards Program in Health Equity Research for her project, “Advancing Health Equity: Development of Community-informed Tools to Lower Risks Associated with Marijuana-related Sleep Problems and Sexually Transmitted Infections among HBCU College Students.” The project aims to address medical mistrust and marijuana use in Black communities and develop student health and community-based outreach initiatives.
Huston-Tillotson University in Austin, Texas, received a $1.35 million gift from the estate of alumni Theodore C. “Ted” Smith and Octavia L. Smith to establish the Theodore C. and Octavia L. Smith Endowment. The new fund will support the HBCU’s African American Male Teachers’ Initiative and the Theodore C. and Octavia L. Smith music endowed professorship. The gift also allocates some unrestricted funding to support university priorities.
The College of Arts and Sciences at Tuskegee University in Alabama received an $872,562 grant from the U.S. Department of War to support research and student training at the intersection of AI and advanced DNA sequencing. The funding will be used to purchase two major equipment systems that will enable the HBCU’s faculty and students to quickly collect and analyze large volumes of genetic data. This work can support studies in a wide range of fields, including medicine, biology, chemistry, materials science, and energy.
