Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
A $5 million gift to the Pembroke Center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, from alumna Shauna Stark will establish an endowed directorship and support bold feminist research by scholars from multiple fields of study. The gift will permanently endow the center’s director position and bolster programming that influences the way questions of gender, sexuality, and difference are addressed in scholarship and society. An independent investor who began her career as a financial analyst and later became a financial planning manager, Shauna Stark was the founding investor of the Establishment, a feminist alternative news and culture site that launched in 2015. Currently, she also is a director of Empress Media.
Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, has received a $ 650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. The grant will support Bryant’s new STEM scholarship program, which funds scholarships and programs to remove barriers to success in STEM education for academically gifted students with proven financial hardship, particularly women, minority, and low-income students.
Verizon has announced that it is establishing a $1 million scholarship program for women students at five historically Black universities. The Verizon Game Forward Scholarship aims to increase female representation in gaming and STEM fields. Five women at each participating university – Delaware State University, Dillard University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and Texas Southern University – will receive scholarships. The 25 scholarship recipients will also be guaranteed internships at top tech and gaming companies, including Verizon and its partners, ensuring an increase in the pipeline of female talent into STEM careers.