Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
Sweet Briar College, a women’s liberal arts institution in Virginia, has received a $5 million donation from the estate of Donna “Jan” Pridmore, who passed away in February 2024. Pridmore, a 1971 alumna of Sweet Briar, was the founder of the website “Literary History” and former head of her family’s distribution company, Pridmore Corporation. Her donation will support Sweet Briar’s capital needs, including infrastructure improvements to the Guion Science Center.
Three projects at Michigan State University have received new grant funding from the American Cancer Society to advance breast cancer and cervical cancer research. The first grant, worth $792,000, will support the development of a nanotherapy that treats breast cancer without the typical side effects. The second grant, worth $297,000, will fund research on why breast cancer spreads to the liver and lymph nodes and how to prevent it from occurring. The third grant, worth $217,000, will go towards the development of culturally appropriate health messaging that educates African American parents about the HPV vaccine, a treatment used to prevent cervical cancer and other HPV-related cancers.
Scripps College, a women’s liberal arts institution and one of the Claremont Colleges in California, has received a $1.1 million gift from the late Elizabeth Rosemary Plane Sage to support the college’s department of art. The donation from the Scripps College alumna will fund new community-building events, paid student professional development opportunities, new art equipment and supplies, skill-based art workshops, student-curated art shows, and renovations to the college’s senior art studio.