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.

Simmons University, a women’s college in Boston, has received a $196,000 grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The goal of the program is to train at least 1,000 social work students to better identify and treat substance use disorders, to increase the number of social work practitioners who can address the needs of individuals battling these disorders, and to reduce barriers to accessing care. The research will be under the direction of Jennifer Putney, an assistant professor and director of the Center for Innovation in Behavioral Health Education and Research.

The University of Massachusetts at Amherst received a four-year, $900,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Office of Sexual Health and Youth Development to examine adolescent sexual and reproductive health inequities in Massachusetts. The funds will enable researchers to complete a comprehensive investigation to examine how structural racism, in combination with other systems of oppression contributes to inequitable adolescent sexual and reproductive health outcomes for youth. The research will be under the direction of Aline Gubrium, an associate professor in the department of health promotion and policy, and Elizabeth Salerno Valdez, a lecturer in the community health education program.

A team of Texas Woman’s University faculty has been awarded a $2,448,091 grant by the National Science Foundation to fund a project aimed at improving retention and graduation rates for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. The program aims to increase engagement from student populations typically underrepresented in STEM fields that are well-represented at Texas Woman’s University, a Hispanic-serving institution primarily for women. The research will be under the direction of Diana Elrod, director of the Center for Student Research and a lecturer in biology at the university.