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.

Clark Atlanta University received a $243,648 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation that will provide scholarships for four undergraduate women in the fields of cyber-physical systems and mathematics. The grant is part of the Clare Boothe Luce Program that provides financial aid for women in the physical sciences and engineering. Ronald A. Johnson, president of Clark Atlanta university, stated that “we graciously thank the foundation for advancing our mission to be culturally relevant and academically competitive, igniting new possibilities for women in STEM.”

The School of Medicine at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, received a three-year, $164,432 grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for a program to interest middle school girls in STEM fields. The grant will support a satellite program in schools districts in Davidson and Surry counties in North Carolina. Students will attend after school activities and participate in an intensive STEM experience during the summer on the Wake Forest campus.

Spelman College, the liberal arts educational institution for women in Atlanta, has received a $30 million donation from trustee Ronda Stryker and her husband William Johnston, The gift is the largest from a living donor in the 137-year history of the college. The gift will be used to help fund the construction of the Center for Innovation and the Arts on the Spelman campus. When completed the building will house all of the college’s arts programs – art, art history, curatorial studies, dance, digital media, documentary filmmaking, photography, music and theater – in a single building. Ronda Stryker has been a member of the college’s board of trustees for more than 20 years. She currently serves as vice chair.