Money Matters

Matrix: The Magazine for Leaders in Education, June, 2000

Funding, Grants, & Financial News

The Education Resources Institute Launches Initiative to Assist Low-Income Youth

BOSTON, Mass.,--The Education Resources Institute (TERI) is launching a three-part campaign to reduce the growing gap in college opportunities for low-income youth. First with a $900,000 grant from the DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest School-to-College Transition Initiative, TERI will help five cities--Los Angeles, San Francisco, Milwaukee, Charlotte, N.C., and Tidewater, Va.,--plan community-based college information centers. Funds for implementation of the project will be provided for two of the cities.

The grant's support is also making it possible for TERI to provide technical assistance to help cities build centers through a toolkit including a "how-to" manual and document prototypes and a training institute. Finally, TERI is initiating a comprehensive campaign to secure public and private funds at national, state, and local levels to help create many more college information centers nationwide.

College information centers help less-advantaged students with information about college and financial aid. The centers' services include college and financial-aid information, high school course selection, mentoring, assistance with college applications, and many others.

TERI previously launched college information centers in Washington, D.C., Louisville, Ky., and St. Louis, Mo., with support from DeWitt Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.

The centers are modeled after Boston's Higher Education Information Center, a division of TERI. HEIC works with 32 area colleges and universities, the Boston Public Schools, the Boston Public Library, state agencies, and other organizations.

TERI is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing people of all ages with access to education programs designed to enhance the quality of their lives.

Knight Foundation Presidential Leadership Program Recognizes Five Colleges

The presidents of Goshen College, Goshen, Ind., Albion College, Albion, Mich., Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn., Morehouse College, Atlanta, Ga., and Salem College, Winston-Salem, N.C., each received a $150,000 discretionary grant from the 1999 John S. and James L. Knight Foundation Presidential Leadership Program.

The program, which awards up to five grants of $150,000 annually, recognizes the essential role private liberal arts colleges play in the American system of higher education as well as the importance of their leadership in assuring the quality of undergraduate teaching and learning. Although the grant intentionally goes to the school, use of the funds is left to the discretion of the college president with the exception that the grant will be used for the institution's long-term benefit.

Established in 1950, the foundation makes national grants in journalism, education, and arts and culture.

Jamestown Awarded $300,000 Bush Grant

JAMESTOWN, N.D.,--The Bush Foundation awarded Jamestown College a three-year $300,000 grant to implement a faculty development program in information technology. During the course of the three years, funds will be available for faculty to attend regional or national conferences that provide information on the integration of technology into higher education. Faculty may also receive release time or stipends to learn appropriate technological skills, teach such skills to colleagues, or adapt courses to incorporate instructional technology.

The grant is timely because the college has opened the Harris Widmer Center for Excellence in Information Technology. Through the center, Jamestown is equipping each residence hall with a new computer and color printer linked to the campus network. It is the first college or university in North Dakota to initiate such a program.

Chatham College Receives Scholarship Grant

PITTSBURGH, Pa.,--Chatham College has received a $100,000 grant from The Hearst Foundation, Inc. to establish the William Randolph Hearst Endowed Fund for women in science. The fund will provide scholarships for Chatham students who pursue bachelor's degrees in science. The scholarship is one of seven created during "Keep the Vision Splendid"--Chatham's $25 million comprehensive fundraising campaign.

Tabor College Adds Two New Majors, Computer Lab

HILLSBORO, Kan.,--Through a $45,000 grant from the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation, Tabor College has created two new technological majors, art and design and computer systems administration, and built a new computer laboratory.

The new lab, which will host courses for the computer systems administration major, contains 10 student workstations and one teaching station with new computers, software, desks, and chairs. The lab also houses a netware server, data projector, and printer. The up-to-date equipment and software will prepare students for a network administration career. The lab also will have its own isolated network, allowing students to disassemble machines and participate in other hands-on applications that will not affect the greater Tabor network.