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.

Auburn University in Alabama received a $791,808 grant from the American Cancer Society to continue research into identifying and studying genetic factors associated with hereditary breast cancer in the African American community. The research is under the direction of Nancy Merner, an assistant professor in the department of pathobiology in the university’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Merner and her team have conducted gene sequencing and identified protein-truncating variants, or PTVs, specific to African Americans that appear to increase inherited breast cancer risk. “We plan to identify these PTVs associated with breast cancer among African Americans and study how they increase risk,” Dr. Merner said.

Cedar Crest College, a selective educational institution for women in Allentown, Pennsylvania, has received a major gift from Hank Narrow in memory of his late wife, Jill Stewart Narrow, who graduated from the college in 1970 and passed away in 2018. The gift will be utilized to upgrade and maintain a historic campus building which will be renamed The Narrows Communications and Humanities Center.

St. Catherine University, a women’s-centered educational institution in St. Paul, Minnesota, received a $1.3 million donation from the state of alumna Jean McIlquham Stalcup. The gift will establish the Jean McIlquham Stalcup ‘72 Scholarship Fund which will be used to provide scholarships to students with demonstrated financial need.

Mount Holyoke College, a liberal arts educational institution for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts, received a $250,00 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to support the college’s Teaching for our Moment program. The initiative aims to address the growing crisis of teacher burnout in our nation’s public schools. A free one-day conference, aimed at helping PK–12 educators identify strategies and best practices for responding to the evolving social, emotional, and mental health needs of both teachers and students, will be followed by a program of workshops over the next six months to assist teachers in coping with the challenges of the current environment.

Howard University in Washington, D.C. received a $616,000 grant from the National Institute of Health to study the aggressive form of cancer known as triple-negative breast cancer. Chemotherapy is important in the therapeutic management of this type of breast cancer. The goal of the research is to develop mechanisms, using nanotechnology, to improve the targeted delivery of large doses of multiple drugs into cancer cells without off-target toxicity.