University Women's Group Awards STEM Grants to County College of Morris

The American Association of University Women announced Thursday that it will award $45,000 in grants to 11 community college campus projects at schools including County College of Morris. 

Each year, the AAUW Campus Action Project grant program gives money to teams of faculty and students to create community-based solutions to some of the far-reaching problems explored in AAUW research. The grant recipients just announced were based on recommendations from the 2013 AAUW research report "Women in Community College: Access to Success." The publication  examines the needs of student mothers; the barriers women face in nontraditional and high-demand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; and the challenges women have in completing a certificate or degree or in transferring to a four-year institution.

The report includes recommendations that the organizations said will improve community colleges for all students, such as increasing on-campus child-care funding and stepping up STEM recruitment and support programs.

“We are putting our research into action through these 11 Campus Action Projects,” said Kate C. Farrar, AAUW director of leadership programs. “The winning teams were selected because they hold a great deal of promise for student leadership development and impact. We are proud to support these teams of administrators and students who are committed to eradicating barriers and empowering women.”

The 2013–14 CAP grant recipients are County College of Morris, New Jersey; Gateway Community College and Norwalk Community College, Connecticut; New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology; Northampton Community College, Pennsylvania; Seminole State College, Florida; Suffolk County Community College, New York; University of Cincinnati, Ohio; Vance-Granville Community College, North Carolina; Washington State University; and Windward Community College, Hawaii.

The selected projects include the development of mentorship programs, speakers’ series, leadership workshops, and institutional partnerships with child-care centers. AAUW will also sponsor one member from each team to attend the 2014 National Conference for College Women Student Leaders at the University of Maryland, College Park.