Here is this week’s news of grants and gifts that may be of particular interest to women in higher education.
Zelieann Craig, associate professor of animal and comparative biomedical sciences at the University of Arizona, has received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the molecular and cellular effects of phthalates on women’s reproductive health. Phthalates are a class of chemical compounds widely used in industrial applications, appearing commonly in everyday household plastic products, beauty products, and cleaning solutions. Dr. Craig’s project aims to confirm long-term exposure to phthalates causality in infertility and metabolic disease, as well as explore how they may increase harmful fatty acids in ovarian follicles and disrupt cellular energy metabolism.
St. Catherine University, a women’s undergraduate and co-ed graduate institution in Minnesota, has received a $1.36 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s TRIO Student Support Services program, an initiative that aims to improve college retention and graduate rates among students from low-income backgrounds, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities. Students who participate in the TRIO program are partnered with an academic advisor, receive priority course registration, and have access to resources on financial literacy, graduate school opportunities, and FAFSA assistance.
Agnes Scott College, a liberal arts college for women in Decatur, Georgia, has received a $174,416 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for the college’s “Shakespeare and Digital Storytelling” project. The new funding will support a two-week residential institute for 25 high school English teachers to study digital storytelling approaches to teaching Shakespeare.