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.

Barnard College, the highly rated liberal arts educational institution for women in New York City, received a grant from the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation to support the creation of the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being at Barnard. The new center will ensure that all Barnard students have access to comprehensive physical and mental health, holistic wellness, and financial literacy support services and are equipped with the knowledge and tools needed to thrive at the college. Construction of the new center on the first floor of Barnard Hall is slated to begin in January 2022, and the new space is expected to be fully operational by September 2023.

Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, has received a three-year, $298,714 grant from the Office of Violence Against Women at the U.S. Department of Justice to continue its work in prevention and awareness of sexual assault, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking on campus.

Kennesaw State University in Georgia received a three-year, $406,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to clarify how ovarian hormones such as estradiol and progesterone influence fear-conditioning processes in women resulting in a higher incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder. Principle investigator Ebony Glover, an associate professor of neuroscience at Kennesaw State University, is a graduate of Spelman College in Atlanta and received a Ph.D. in neuroscience and animal behavior from Emory University in Atlanta.

St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the residential undergraduate college is restricted to women, received a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to help establish the Initiative for Contemplative Discipleship program. The aim of the national initiative is to strengthen Christian congregations so they can help people deepen their relationships with God, build strong relationships with each other and contribute to the flourishing of local communities and the world.

Researchers at Binghamton Univerity in New York and the University of Rhode Island are sharing a four-year, $1.2 million grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a study on how to effectively implement intimate partner and sexual violence screenings in college health centers across the United States.