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 Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, received a $1.25 million grant from the United Health Foundation for programs to support access to quality maternal health services for women in rural North Carolina. The funding will help develop a new care model for high-risk patients, expand telepsychiatry services to better address the mental health needs of expectant and new mothers, and decrease food insecurity among pregnant women.

The University of Arkansas received a $175,000 donation from Shelley and David Simpson of J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. to support an organization for women studying supply chain management at the university. The funds will be allocated to Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence, or WISE, a student organization and to support a WISE “future leaders” student symposium to examine gender equity issues in the supply chain industry and education.

Transfer students attending Mississippi University for Women will benefit from a four-year $357,736 grant from the Woodward Hines Education Foundation to support college retention, persistence, and completion. The grant will fund the Navigating Transfer Student Success project at the university. The program will expand services presently focused on first-time freshmen to the university’s incoming transfer students, while highlighting the needs of this specific population.

Spelman College, a liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, received a $10 million gift from hedge fund investor Seth Klarman and his wife Beth. The funds will be used for scholarships with an emphasis on helping students overcome the financial barriers that may prevent them from graduating.

The Seattle Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoier, a nonprofit organization of women leaders in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries, has endowed a new scholarship at Washington State University for students in the field of organic and sustainable agriculture. Harmony Stephens, who is currently pursuing a degree in organic agriculture systems and soil science, is the first recipient of a scholarship from the fund.