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 Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla has received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation for programs to attract and retain women in STEM fields. The project will aim to attract and retain women both as professors and students over the next three years. Jessica Cundiff, an associate professor of psychological sciences at the university is the director of the grant project. Dr. Cundiff is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where she majored in psychology. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in social psychology from Pennsylvania State University.

Jackson State University in Mississippi recently received a $50,000 donation from the Charles Schwab Foundation that will help fund the Center of Excellence on Breastfeeding and Early Nutrition. Mary Shaw, chair of the department of behavioral and environmental health at the university stated that “our goal in creating this center is to focus on several areas that will support statewide maternal and child health initiatives aimed at improving infant health. One is education and training. The other is advocacy for breastfeeding, and the third is research that will make meaningful contributions to improve breastfeeding and early nutrition outcomes for infants in Mississippi and beyond.”

Texas Woman’s University received a $100,000 gift from alumna Dawn Chaney for scholarships benefitting students majoring in exercise physiology and exercise science and students who are committed to women’s leadership. The gift establishes two $50,000 endowments that will support scholarships for undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in the university’s School of Health Promotion and Kinesiology. Dr. Chaney holds a Ph.D. in exercise physiology from Texas Woman’s University. She has a 17-year career n the academic world, teaching at what is now Texas A&M University-Kingsville, the State University of New York, the University of Delaware, and Bennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina.