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 California, Santa Cruz received a $350,000 grant from the Department of Defense’s Breast Cancer Research Program. The grant will fund research toward creating a new class of drugs for treating breast cancer.

Oregon State University received a $3.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for programs to recruit and retain women in STEM disciplines. The grant program is under the direction of Susan Shaw, a professor of women’s studies at the university. Dr. Shaw has been on the faculty at Oregon State since 1996. She is a graduate of Berry College in Rome, Georgia. Professor Shaw holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. She also earned a master’s degree at Oregon State University. She is the author of God Speaks to Us, Too: Southern Baptist Women on Church, Home, and Society (University Press of Kentucky, 2008).

The University of Alabama at Birmingham received a six-year, $19.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a long-term study of hypertension in women who are pregnant. The study will enroll between 4,700 and 5,700 women during the grant period and examine the benefits and potential harm of treating hypertension with a mild regimen of drugs during pregnancy.

Colorado State University is the lead institution in a $1.7 million grant from the National Science Foundation that seeks to increase the number of women in the geosciences. Other educational institutions participating in the program are Colorado College, West Virginia University, and the University of North Carolina Charlotte. The grant program is under the direction of Emily Fischer, an assistant professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University. Dr. Fischer is a graduate of the University of British Columbia. She holds a master’s degree from the University of New Hampshire and a Ph.D. in atmospheric science from the University of Washington.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst received a two-year, $179,997 grant from the National Science Foundation for research on where and how women entrepreneurs are the most successful. The research is under the direction of Michelle Budig, a professor of sociology at the university. Dr. Budig is a summa cum laude graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Arizona.

The University of New Mexico received a five-year, $8.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for research on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. The disorder, resulting from mothers drinking alcohol when pregnant, affects more than 10,000 infants each year in the United States.