GRANTS AT WORK
Grants from corporations, foundations, and government agencies support everything from building construction to program development to individual faculty research.
Some examples of grants at work:
Institutional Grants:
Civil Liberties and Public Policy received a grant for $170,000 by the Educational Foundation of America. The grant helped sponsor, among other things, an activist conference in the spring and an internship program which places 30 interns from the Five Colleges, Greenfield Community College, and Holyoke Community College in grassroots, national, and international reproductive rights and social change organizations.
Faculty Grants:
Professor of Ecology Charlene D’Avanzo received a grant for $132,000 from the National Science Foundation to investigate college students’ grasp of basic biological concepts. Her research will target two challenges perennially faced by teachers of general biology: that most students do not address questions about biology using the principles and reasoning applied by biologists, and that most faculty do not teach students how to apply these principles. Her findings will help biology faculty learn about their students’ understanding of core biological concepts so that they are able to correct faulty conceptions.