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 University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis received a $1,150,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense for research on expanding the treatment options for breast cancer metastasis. Tiffany Seagroves, professor of pathology in the College of Medicine, is the lead investigator. The project expands upon previously published research by Dr. Seagroves on the potential to treat breast cancer brain and bone metastasis by inhibiting creatine kinase pathway activity through the creatine kinase brain isoform protein. The research project will test whether small inhibitors of creatine kinase activity known to cross the blood-brain barrier can prevent breast cancer metastatic spread or treat pre-existing metastatic disease. Drugs targeting the creatine kinase pathway will be tested alone, or in combination with currently FDA-approved systemic chemotherapies.

The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective has announced that it has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the Andrew W.  Mellon Foundation to support its mission of promoting the work of women writers. The grant will be administered by the Educopia Institute, the collective’s fiscal sponsor, and supported by James Madison University Libraries. Founded in 1987, the Wintergreen Women Writers Collective is dedicated to supporting and promoting women writers of all ages, backgrounds, and levels of experience. The organization offers workshops, retreats, and other opportunities for women writers to connect with one another, hone their craft, and gain exposure for their work.

Kate Walsh, an associate professor of gender and women’s studies and psychology at the University of Wisconsin has received funding through the Increasing Social and Economic Inclusion initiative of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the university to conduct research on post-sexual assault care for survivors of color, LGBTQ+ survivors, and survivors living in poverty. “What we want to do is try to make the care itself, and the systems that provide the support, more culturally responsive and more identity affirming for folks,” Dr. Walsh said. The research will also include analyzing individuals who are not accessing care and what barriers may be preventing them from accessing care. Dr. Walsh is a graduate of Boston University. She holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.