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 Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis received a $4.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to further research on using light to activate drugs and the immune system to fight breast cancer. The process – called photoimmunotherapy – shows promise in treating beast cancer that has spread and has become resistant to chemotherapy.

The Claremont Colleges in California received a $749,998 grant from the Office of Violence Against Women of the U.S. Justice Department for programs to aid victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and dating violence. The money will fund the EmPOWER Center, which serves all seven campuses that make up the Claremont Colleges.

The University of Arizona received a five-year, $10.3 million grant from the National Institute on Aging to study Alzheimer’s disease in women. Women over the age of 65 have a one in six chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease compared to just one in 11 men. The research will be under the direction of Roberta Diaz Brinton, director of the Center for Innovation in Brain Science at the University of Arizona. She holds a Ph.D. in neuropharmacology and psychobiology from the University of Arizona.

The Central Iowa Colleges consortium received a $510,000 grant from the Office of Violence Against Women of the U.S. Justice Department. The four educational institutions making up the consortium – Drake University, Mercy College of Health Sciences, Grand View University, and Simpson College – will work together along with community organizations to coordinate services for victims of sexual assault, dating violence, and domestic violence and to conduct training to prevent sexual assault.