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grants and gifts [Diverse Issues in Higher Education]
[May 20, 2014]

grants and gifts [Diverse Issues in Higher Education]


(Diverse Issues in Higher Education Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Howard Interim President Wayne A. I. Frederick recently announced that the university has accrued nearly $10 million in gifts. Arthur Reynolds and Robert McLeod were recognized for a $4.9 million gift from Dr. Richard Francis Jones' Trust. Dr. Jones was a former chief of urology at Howard. Alfred C. Liggins was also acknowledged for his gift of $4 million to Howard University in honor of his mother Radio One Chairperson/Founder and Howard alumna Cathy Hughes. The gift will benefit the School of Communications.



Paul Quinn College received a donation from the Hillcrest Foundation for $500,000 to support a living and learning community for its students, which will be the first new dormitory built at the institution since it moved to Dallas in 1990. Scheduled to break ground in 2015, the living and learning community will serve as a bridge between students' academic and residential experiences.

Engineering students at Florida A&M University will have access to the latest software to enhance their academic and professional training, thanks to a gift from technology corporation Siemens. The company recently donated a full software suite to FAMU valued at more than $85 million, a culminating part of the company's long-term educational partnership with FAMU. The gift is the largest of its kind in the university's history.


FAMU officials say that the software, which will assist students in building their skills in design for aerospace, automotive and maritime projects, will make FAMU students among the most competitive and attractive for STEM-based companies worldwide.

Clemson University's Call Me MISTER program has received $1.3 million from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) of Battle Creek, Mich., to collaborate with Jackson State University (JSU) to increase the number of African-American male teachers in Mississippi K-8 classrooms. Clemson established the now nationally recognized Call Me MISTER program in 2000 to increase the number of African-American males teaching in South Carolina K-12 schools. MISTER stands for Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models. After more than a decade in South Carolina, there is a 75 percent increase in the number of AfricanAmerican male teachers in the state's public elementary schools.

The program has expanded to 17 colleges in South Carolina. Nearly 100 students are enrolled in the program in six additional states: Florida, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia.

Presently, JSU has 10 students enrolled in the program. Funds will be used for tuition, books, professional development and the summer leadership institute. The grant is part of Clemson University's $1 billion capital campaign, The Will to Lead, which will support faculty and students with scholarships, professorships, facilities and technology.

The National Science Foundation has awarded the North Carolina Central University Computational Center for Fundamental and Applied Science and Education a $5 million grant for development of interdisciplinary research activities and research-based educational training.

NCCU will receive $1 million per year over five years to continue developing the center, known as NSF-CREST, which was established in 2008. NSF-CREST initially was established with $5.7 million in NSF funding. The ongoing grant will enable NCCU to increase research infrastructure to support additional STEM training and educational opportunities for students.

Ohio's Board of Regents will hand out nearly $11 million dollars to more than 25 colleges and universities, along with several state technical centers, to expand their internship and co-op programs.

This is the second round of funding from the Ohio Means Internships and Co-Ops grant program, supported through the distribution of one-time casino licensing fees.

The grant's expected to boost the link between colleges and businesses while creating and sustaining internships for nearly 2,500 Ohio students.

Florida's Board of Governors awarded $15 million in grants to four collaborative university projects. A newly formed consortium of the University of Central Florida, University of South Florida and Florida International University led the way, receiving $8.5 million for two projects.

The projects include $4.9 million for an urban university coalition response to Florida computer information technology workforce needs and $3.6 million for an innovative and collaborative approach to increasing the supply of quality accounting graduates in Florida.

The universities, in three of Florida's largest metropolitan areas and collectively serving about half of the students in the State University System, recently formed the Florida Consortium of Metropolitan Universities.

The additional grant recipients are Florida State University and Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, which will receive a combined $3 million for expanding north Florida's IT career pathways.

Florida Atlantic University, Broward College and Palm Beach State College will receive a combined $3.5 million for a computer accelerated pipeline to unlock regional excellence.

The University of Mississippi will name a recently constructed dormitory for donors Roland and Sheryl Burns.

The college board approved the naming of what's currently called the University Housing South Building, which opened last fall.

Burns Hall will honor the couple's lifetime pledges and donations to Ole Miss of more than $5.3 million.

Board documents show the couple recently pledged a $2 million gift to be split evenly between athletics and academics. They earlier endowed an accounting professorship with $1.5 million and gave $1 million for a football team meeting room.

Roland Burns, president and chief financial officer of oil and gas firm Comstock Resources of Frisco, Texas, graduated from Ole Miss in 1982 with bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting.

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