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.

Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina received a $205,000 grant from the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation to fund scholarships for women students during the 2016-17 academic year. Approximately 150 women will share in the scholarship funds.

The University of Alabama Birmingham received two, $2.5 million grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to address pregnancy-related problems of women in the developing world. The grant money will be used to develop a low-cost blood test for gestational diabetes and to develop a cost-effective cervical pessary to prevent preterm labor.

Villanova University in Pennsylvania received a $5 million donation from alumna Anne Walsh McNulty to establish the Institute for Women’s Leadership at the university. The institute is scheduled to open in the fall of 2017, marking the 50th anniversary when all academic programs at Villanova became co-educational. McNulty was the valedictorian of the Class of 1975 and has had a long career in the accounting business.