The Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at Ball State University (Ind.) has received a $400,000 grant from the Edmund F. Ball and the Virginia B. Ball Foundation that will allow the center to continue its semester-long immersive interdisciplinary programs. The university also recently received a $186,000 estate gift from the late J.D. Wickersham to create two new scholarship programs. Wickersham earned a bachelor’s and a master’s from Ball State.
Two of Boston University’s colleges, the College of Communication and the College of General Studies, will split a $1.25 million gift from DreamWorks Studios co-founder Jeffrey Katzenberg and his wife, Marilyn Katzenberg. The Katzenberg’s two children attended those two BU colleges. The gift will fund the renovation of the College of General Studies’ third-floor study area, which will be renamed the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center. The College of Communication will use its part of the gift to renovate and upgrade the photojournalism program and create the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg High Definition Center.
Cazenovia College (N.Y.) has received a $1 million gift from the Gorman Foundation for the rights to name the college’s new theater and to establish a merit-based scholarship. The theater will be named in honor of Catherine Cummins, the late wife of Owen Gorman, the founder of the Gorman Foundation and a Cazenovia alum.
Duke University (N.C.) has received a $378,928 grant from the National Science Foundation to continue the Ralph Bunche Summer Institute, a five-week program intended to get minority undergraduate students interested in graduate study. The NSF grant will allow the institute to run through the summer of 2008.
Elizabeth City State University (N.C.) will receive a $350,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to fund housing and community development assistance to Gulf Coast residents affected by Hurricane Katrina. The HUD program, “Universities Rebuilding America Partnership” includes ECSU and 15 other universities.
Florida Memorial University has received the largest grant in its history, $1 million, from Ocean Bank and the United Negro College Fund. The grant, part of Ocean Bank’s Education and Diversity Initiatives, will be used to complete the renovation of FMU’s student union center. Upon its completion, the center will be renamed the J.C. Sams/Ocean Bank Student Union Center. Part of the grant will also be used for the Ocean Bank Endowed Scholarship Fund.
New York University has announced the creation of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, a graduate research and Ph.D.-granting center funded by a $200 million gift from the Leon Levy Foundation. While the interdisciplinary center will feature its own faculty,
graduates will receive their degrees through NYU’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
North Carolina Central University has received a $297,782 grant from the North Carolina Quality Educators through Staff Development and Training (NC QUEST). The grant will fund Project Meter: Mathematics Empowerment in Teachers to Ensure Retention, the program provides professional development for 30 middle school mathematics teachers.
Southern Methodist University (Texas) has received a $33 million grant from the Meadows Foundation to support the college’s Meadows Museum. The museum houses an acclaimed collection of Spanish art. A portion of the grant will also be used for faculty and student support.
The United Negro College Fund has received a $3 million challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation to implement an institutional advancement program to strengthen selected historically Black colleges and universities.
The Koret Foundation will divide $1.25 million in grants to support Jewish studies programs in several California universities. The institutions receiving the grants are Stanford University, the University of California, Berkeley, UC-Davis and UC-Santa Cruz.
The University of Missouri-Columbia has received an 18-month, $39,116 grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish the Moberly Community Coalition for Children and Families Project. The coalition is a collaborative effort with Moberly Public Schools and several area social service agencies to provide mental health services for
students. The program emphasizes prevention and early identification of mental illnesses.
The University of Texas Libraries has received the largest single gift in its history, a $1 million gift from UT alum Jan J. Roberts in honor of her late husband, Richard T. Roberts. The endowment will be used to upgrade and maintain the Fine Arts Library facility, acquire new library materials and support readings or lectures by visiting playwrights, poets, composers and authors. The reading room at the Fine Arts Library will be named the Richard T. and Jan J. Roberts Reading Room.
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