JBHE: Latest News for 10/29/09

Grants and Gifts

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has announced grants to three historically black universities. The universities will be entitled to grants of up to $1 million in each of the next five years.

Delaware State University will use the funds to establish an optical sciences center for applied research. North Carolina Central University will fund its Center for Aerospace Device Research and Education. North Carolina A&T State University will use the grant to support the operation of its Center for Aviation Safety.

• Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, received a $500,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue a program to promote outside-the-classroom activities aimed at increasing professional opportunities for women and minorities in information technology.

• Historically black Alabama A&M University received a three-year, $13 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The grant will fund the university’s participation in the Textbooks and Learnings Material Program which will provide books to schoolchildren in Ethiopia.

• Florida A&M University, the historically black educational institution in Tallahassee, received a $1.2 million grant from the federal government to support the university’s efforts to train healthcare professionals. Scholarships will be provided for students in such fields as public health, toxicology, biostatistics, and nutrition.

• Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis received a $1 million grant from the Anheuser-Busch company to establish a scholarship program for students in its school of business.

• Historically black Grambling State University in Louisiana received a $1.5 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to provide scholarships for students majoring in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, or computer science.

The university also received a six-year, $3 million grant from the United States Department of Education to support the university’s master’s degree program in nursing.

• Jackson State University, the historically black educational institution in Mississippi, received a $1 million federal grant for a program to prepare law enforcement officers to deal with school-based emergencies.

• Spelman College, the historically black educational institution for women in Atlanta, received a $151,000 grant from the U.S. State Department to create a study-abroad program which will enable Spelman students to travel and take classes at universities in China, Brazil, and Turkey.