Here is this week’s news of grants to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.
Michael Bowie
The University of Florida received a $619,000 grant from the Florida State Legislature to support its Situational Environmental Circumstances Mentoring Program. The program will provide 150 minority students, a large majority of whom will be Black males, with role model mentors and other supportive services in an effort to increase the chances of the students’ academic success.
Cheryl Williams, the community and government liaison for the University of Florida’s College of Education, helped secure the funding for the program from the legislature. “We need to provide children with viable options that will lead them towards a successful life,” she said. “Education is key component of the success.”
The principal investigator of the grant project is Michael Bowie, the director of the Office of Recruitment, Retention, and Multicultural Affairs at the University of Florida College of Education.
Hampton University, the historically Black educational institution in Virginia, has received a $13.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to lead a research consortium to conduct interdisciplinary research aimed at reducing racial health disparities for minority men. The initiative will focus on eliminating disparities in prostate cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, melanoma in Hispanics and violence prevention. Joining in the effort will be researchers from Jackson State University, Clark Atlanta University, North Carolina A&T State University, and St. Augustine’s University.
Hampton University President William R. Harvey stated, “African-American men are disproportionately affected by major health issues. This important initiative will focus on research, education, training, and intervention outreach.”
The University of Detroit Mercy received a $750,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan, to support the university’s Master of Community Development degree program in the School of Architecture. The funds will be used to provide scholarships for students who are underrepresented in the field of community development.
Jackson State University in Mississippi received a $220,000 award from the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority for a research project on the role African American grandfathers play in child rearing. The research project will be under the direction of Olga Osby, an associate professor in the university’s School of Social Work. Dr. Osby earned bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in social work at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received a five-year, $8 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a program to improve maternal and infant health in the African nation of Malawi. The nation of Malawi has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.
Historically Black Florida A&M University in Tallahassee received a four-year, $1,630,597 grant from the National Science Foundation to revamp and enhance instructional methods and curricula for undergraduate degree programs in STEM disciplines. The grant program is under the direction of Maurice Edington, dean of the College of Science and Technology at the university.
Texas Woman’s University in Denton, received a $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for programs to help students from underrepresented groups to pursue degrees in nursing. Most of the money will be used for scholarships for undergraduate students but about 13 percent of the grant money will be allocated for graduate student scholarships.
Morgan State University, the historically Black educational institution in Baltimore, received a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for programs to increase student retention. The funds will be used for technology upgrades and counselor training for staffers in the Office of Student Success and Retention.
