Meredith
January 29, 2003
ERALD
Volume XVIV, Issue 16
Meredith awarded a prestigious
Kresge Science Grant
$300,000 grant will
primarily provide
money for new
equipment for
Science and
Mathematics
Building.
KATELYN
GORDON
Staff Reporter
Meredith College has
been awarded a $300,000
challenge grant from the
Kresge Foundation's
Science Initiative program.
This grant will give the
college funds to purchase
advanced science equip
ment and technology for
the Science and
Mathematics Building. The
grant will also be used to
establish an endowment to
maintain the equipment and
to purchase new equipment
in the future when these
pieces become outdated.
According to Cindy
Godwin, director of corJ)o-
rate and foundation rela
tions, Meredith took the
initiative to apply for the
grant. Meredith contacted
the foundation, and the
application process was set
in motion after President
Maureen Hartford partici
pated in a conference call
with the foundation.
Hartford “reported our
dedication to math and sci
ence, detailing our plans
for the new building,”
Godwin said. “After this
phone call, we were invited
to submit a full proposal.”
According to Godwin, an
official proposal, totaling
$1.2 million, was submitted
and followed up with more
information as needed.
Godwin said that
Meredith was notified in
December 2002 that the
college had won the grant.
The news was “a cause for
celebration,” Godwin said.
The grant money is
expected to add to the large
impact on the college's sci*
ence program that was cre
ated by the new Science
and Mathematics Building.
"With this Kresge grant,
Meredith's students will
have experiences with sci
entific instrumentation and
equipment that are general
ly not available to under
graduate students - it will
set them apart from others
in quality experiences,"
stated Rosalind Reichard,
vice president for academic
affairs.
Hartford added, "The
equipment funded through
this challenge grant sup
ports Meredith’s new
undergraduate research
requirements for students
with majors in the sci
ences."
Hartford said that the
grant would assist in the
college's focus on improv
ing its science and mathe
matics programs.
"With the opening of the
college’s new state-of-the-
art Science and
Mathematics Building,
Meredith confums its com
mitment to academic excel
lence in scientific studies,"
Hartford said.
“The grant will have a •
multi-fold effect,” Godwin
said. “The prestige of being
awarded a Kresge will
carry a lot of weight with
other foundations and cor
porations. The students will
benefit by having more
specialized study, research.
and learning spaces.
“The faculty will have
the opportunity to work
with students one-on-one in
an environment that doesn't
require the set up and
breakdown of materials all
the time,” Godwin added.
Through the grant, the
college receives $150,000
up front, and this money
will be used to buy high-
tech equipment such as a
nuclear magnetic resonance
spectrometer, a gas chro
matograph/mass spectrome
ter, and a scanning electron
microscope.
In order to receive the
other half of the grant
money, Meredith must raise
$600,000 by Apr. 1,2004.
The Kresge foundation
releases its grant money in
two stages and requires this
fundraising commitment
from schools that receive
its money in order to
ensure that the grant money
will be used properly.
Reichard stated, "This
recognition by Kresge of
the quality of our institu
tion should provide great
momentum for our fund
raising efforts."
Overall, the grant is
expected to help Meredith
in reaching its fund-raising
goal of $ 1.2 million to
spend on the college's sci
ence needs.
The Kresge Foundation, a
private, independent organ
ization, gives riloney to col
leges that are making facili
ty renovations, purchasing
real estate, or purchasing
major equipment to better
their programs.
“The Kresge Foundation
is a very prestigious organi
zation, one of the few that
support science equipment
and endowment funds for
the maintenance for that
equipment,” Godwin said.
Other schools that have
received grants from the
Kresge Foundation include
Vanderbilt University,
Purdue University, Cornell
University, Columbia
University and Furman
University.
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