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.
Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles received a four-year, $1,165,629 grant from the U.S. Department of Education for a program to instruct elementary school teachers in the Los Angeles Unified School District on how to incorporate ethnic studies into their overall curricula. Teachers will be advised on how to integrate African American and Latino history and culture into the curricula across a wide range of school subjects.
Historically Black Grambling State University in Louisiana received a donation of 19 pieces of African art with a value of $238,000 from Judy and Ira Wayne McConnell. Mr. McConnell is managing partner at the Houston-based accounting and consulting firm McConnell & Jones. The art collection includes nineteenth-century African wood sculptures.
The University of Arkansas received a $120,000 grant from Tyson Foods Inc. to create an endowment for the Tyson Academic Enrichment Program and the Tyson Inclusive Excellence Scholarships. The money will be used for retention programs for junior and senior students from underrepresented minority groups majoring in STEM fields.
Historically Black Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, received a three-year $503,931 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for research on new methods and processes in the field of materials and energy science. The research is under the direction of Diola Bagayoko, a Distinguished Professor of physics at the university.
North Carolina Central University, the historically black educational institution in Durham, received a $600,000 grant from the general administration of the University of North Carolina System. The grant will fund research on treatments for Ebola, West Nile, and other deadly viruses.