Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
The Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, has been awarded a three-year, $300,000 grant from the Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in STEM of the Henry Luce Foundation to increase the number of undergraduate women pursuing research in computer science. The grant will fund three cohorts of eight undergraduate women, who will be named Clare Booth Luce Research Scholars. The funding will support the students’ research and participation in conferences.
The Institute for International Business in the College of Business at the University of Iowa has received a $123,000 State Department grant through the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The funds will be used to provide entrepreneurial education to women in the western part of Saudi Arabia. The women will participate in Venture School International, an entrepreneurial educational program that guides students through the startup process by teaching them how to identify a market need and build a business to meet it. Iowa women entrepreneurs also will work with the Saudi women as mentors, providing support and encouragement while serving as role models.
Spelman College, a liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, received a $1 million donation from Zynga, a global leader in interactive entertainment. The donation will fund scholarships for Spelman College students. In addition to scholarships, the gift will also fund the Zynga Gaming Lab, housed within the Spelman Innovation Lab. The Gaming Lab will guide students through the process of creating game theory, design, and development through immersive storytelling, 3D modeling, and other aspects of interactive media.
Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas, was awarded a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice as part of the Violence Against Women Act. The college will use this funding to expand education and awareness about personal safety, agency and advocacy, including supporting its ongoing Title IX efforts and working with a specialist to create programming for the campus community. This grant will also enable Lyon College to fund additional security cameras on campus, other equipment, and programming for the next three years.