Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, received a three-year, $1 million grant from Lilly Endowment to expand the college’s educational summer programs for girls. The college has sponsored summer learning programs for about 500 girls each year. With the new grant, 1,200 girls will be able to participate in the summer programs. “Saint Mary’s is committed to broadening its impact as a place of lifelong learning for women and girls,” said Katie Conboy, president of Saint Mary’s College. “As the only women’s college in Indiana, located in a region where girl-specific resources are scarce, Saint Mary’s has both the opportunity and the obligation to lead.”
Georgia State University has been awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to launch a new initiative to increase the recruitment, retention, engagement, and support of women faculty in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Florida International University will partner with Georgia State University in the effort. The ADVANCE-IMPACT (Intersectionality and Mentoring in the Professoriate for Advancement, Community and Transformation) initiative will offer leadership training and mentoring and will seek to identify policies that promote best practices in diversity, equity, and inclusion at an institutional level.
The U.S. Department of Education has announced 189 new grant awards totaling $51.7 million to institutions of higher education across the United States as part of the Ronald E. McNair Postbaccalaureate Achievement Program. The program provides grants to universities and colleges for projects designed to provide disadvantaged college students with effective preparation for doctoral studies. Wellesley College, the highly rated liberal arts college for women in Massachusetts, and Texas Woman’s University each received $261,888 grants.