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 Michigan State University College of Human Medicine has been awarded a five-year, $3,358,550 grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health to study treatment for major depressive disorder among women who have recently experienced perinatal loss — miscarriage, stillbirth, early neonatal death. The grant will provide support to test the effectiveness of interpersonal psychotherapy for major depression following perinatal loss. The project is under the direction of Jennifer E. Johnson, the C. S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health.

Brescia University in Owensboro, Kentucky, has received a $295,343 grant from the Department of Justice and the Office of Violence Against Women that will go toward increasing security and education on campus. The goal of the grant is to provide education and reduce cases of domestic violence, dating violence, stalking and sexual assault.

Northern Kentucky University received a gift from Dr. Carol Swarts to establish the STRAWS Endowed Professorship of Computer Science. It is the first endowed faculty position awarded to a woman in the university’s College of Informatics. Dr. Swarts, a long-time friend of the university, is a radiation oncologist based in Seattle.

Spelman College, a liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, received a gift from philanthropist Amy Falls to establish an endowed scholarship fund to honor Marian Wright Edelman, founder of the Children’s Defense Fund. The scholarships will provide financial support for students with a strong background in community service.

The University of California, Davis received funding from the National Park Service to address the educational gap in U.S. women’s history and role in the nation’s national parks. Under the grant, professors Ellen Hartigan-O’Connor and Lisa Materson will craft 80 biographies of women involved in national parks in the western region of the United States