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.

Marymount Manhattan College in New York City is sharing in a $3.3 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support prison education programs. The program administered by Marymount Manhattan College will support associate’s and bachelor’s degree programs at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women and expansion of these programs to the Taconic Correctional Facilities for Women. About 200 women students are enrolled in the college’s prison education programs.

Hampton University in Virginia received a $446,000 grant  for research on possible genetic explanations for higher breast cancer rates for African American women. The research is under the director of Luisel Ricks-Santi, the founder and director of the Hampton University Cancer Research Center. Dr. Ricks-Santi is a graduate of Hampton University and holds a Ph.D. from Georgetown University.

Michigan State University received a grant from Susan G. Komen Michigan to provide free breast cancer screenings for women from low-income communities in nearby counties. Screenings are conducted on campus, but the grant will fund gas cards for women who have to travel from distant counties.