Davidson College (N.C.) received a $4 million commitment from The Duke Endowment to renovate the James B. Duke Residence Hall and establish it as the permanent home of the college’s Dean Rusk International Studies Program.

Jackson State University (Miss.) received a five-year, $5 million grant from former Netscape Corp. president and CEO James Barksdale to establish the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Educational Resource Center, in memory of his late wife, a former member of the JSU Development Foundation Board. The Mississippi Learning Institute, the Rod Paige Reading Room and other educational projects will be housed in the new center.

Johnson C. Smith University (N.C.) received a $750,000 grant from The Duke Endowment for campus maintenance projects.

The Institute of International Education received a $1.75 million grant from the Freeman Foundation to support efforts to rebuild educational resources in the tsunami-affected areas of Thailand and in Aceh, Indonesia.

Mills College (Calif.) has received a five-year $473,507 grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support the college’s nursing leadership program — the only program of its kind in the Bay Area. The grant will enable Mills to help produce future leaders in nursing and to increase the number of nurses entering the profession.

Northwestern University received a $86,350 grant from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation for the Center for Talent Development, an accredited learning center and research facility serving gifted students in the Midwest.

Northwest Indian College (Wash.) received a three-year $989,361 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund a technology program for Washington state American Indian students.