Grants or Gifts Relating to Women in Higher Education

Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.

The University of Maine received a $284,093 grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a regional consortium to help find jobs for spouses of women faculty members in an effort to recruit and retain more women in STEM fields. An internal university study found that half of the women faculty who left the University of Maine did so due to a lack of professional opportunities for their spouses and partners.

The University of Texas at Austin received a $680,890 grant from the Embrey Family Foundation to aid the teaching, research, and outreach efforts of the university’s Center for Women’s and Gender Studies. The grant will also serve to fund a new professorship position at the center focusing on human rights.

Colorado State University received a $259,000 grant from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture for a program to increase the number of women in rural areas who pursue degree programs in STEM fields.

The University of Massachusetts has received a five-year, $3.2 million grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases for a program to provide coaching and support for Hispanic women to avoid obesity during pregnancy. The grant program is under the direction of Lisa Chasan-Taber, a professor of epidemiology at the university’s School of Public Health and Health Sciences. She states, “Hispanic women face specific social, cultural, and economic challenges that put them at greater risk.” Professor Chasan-Taber holds a master of public health degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a doctorate from Harvard University.

Emory University received a $1 million grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure for a study to develop a new screening technique called tomosynthesis that will map the internal structure of women’s breasts so that a more accurate dose of radiation therapy can be applied for breast cancer patients.