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.
Historically Black Tennessee State University received a $2.3 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration. The five-year grant will support the establishment of a research center dedicated to applied maternal health disparities research. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, maternal mortality rose from 861 for every 100,000 live births in 2020 to 1,205 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2021, a 40 percent overall increase. The grant program is under the direction of Wendelyn Inman, an associate professor of public health at the university.
Historically Black Cheyney University in Pennsylvania received a $495,878 grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to establish a winery management certification program in collaboration with Chaddsford Winery and the Brandywine Valley Wine Trail. The grant will provide career advancement opportunities for those currently working in the industry, a micro-credential for those training to enter the industry, and re-skilling for displaced workers seeking to enter the field at the management level.
As public schools across the region face an unprecedented shortage of school nurses, the School of Community Health and Policy at historically Black Morgan State University in Baltimore has been awarded a $4.4 million contract from Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) to provide pediatric nursing services support within health suites at five schools throughout the city. The health services initiative is part of a large-scale, multi-institutional collaborative to source the expertise and professional health services of the leading university nursing programs in Baltimore. The up-to-six-year contract will allow Morgan’s nursing department to place five registered nurses at specific BCPS locations in need of services.
Historically Black Delaware State University received a three-year, $899,000 grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to contribute its engineering and optics expertise to the future Lunar Land Rover Mission. Researchers will design and develop infrared sensing and laser technology for installation on the Lunar Land Rover that will enable the detection and correlation of water isotopes with the characteristics of the elemental composition of lunar rocks and dust.
