JBHE: Latest News for 11/4/10

Grants and Gifts

• Historically black LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis received a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration for a program to train and provide technical assistance to minority entrepreneurs.

• Portland State University in Oregon was awarded a $3.3 million grant from the U.S. Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration for a program to increase Internet and computer literacy among low-income and minority populations.

• Florida A&M University, the historically black educational institution in Tallahassee, received a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to build a Center for Public Computing and Workforce Development. The center will have 65 broadband workstations available for people who don’t have access to computers or the Internet at home.

• Michigan State University received a five-year, $14 million grant for research to identify risk factors for breast cancer in young women. The research will include the largest study of black women younger than age 50 who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

• Winston-Salem State University, the historically black educational institution in North Carolina, was awarded an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for a program to support new and emerging companies with an environmental focus.

• Historically black Spelman College in Atlanta received a three-year grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to build a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system that will use lasers to study the atmosphere.

• The Association of American Colleges and Universities received a grant from the National Science Foundation to support a new project entitled Preparing Critical Faculty for the Future. The new program will provide professional development services for women faculty of color at historically black colleges and universities.

• Bowie State University, the historically black educational institution in Maryland, received a $500,000 grant from NASA to support university research in aeronautics and aerospace engineering.

• MentorNet, a nonprofit educational association that provides mentors for women and minority students in the sciences and engineering, received a $375,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to create an online social network for women of color.

• Historically black North Carolina Central University in Durham received a $100,000 grant from Piedmont Investment Advisors to establish an endowed scholarship program. Isaac H. Green, CEO of Piedmont Investment Advisors, is the great-grandson of James E. Shepard, the founder of North Carolina Central University.