Kays Foundation Makes Grant Awards for 2020-21
JONESBORO – The board of the Kays Foundation has awarded grants to six Arkansas State University faculty and staff members to provide additional support for their projects during the 2020-21 academic year.
Two grant proposals by Dr. Katherine Baker, assistant professor of art history, were funded. The projects are "A-State Art-in-a-Box," an outreach program for high school art students, and the "A-State Art Summer Residency," which will bring prospective students to campus as a recruitment initiative by the Department of Art + Design. The proposals were funded for $5,151 and $6,500, respectively.
Andrea Brown, assistant professor of occupational therapy, wrote a proposal for a $28,471 grant that will provide equipment and materials to develop an interprofessional pediatric rehabilitation lab. The lab will be shared by programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology. The shared space will serve several purposes, including interdisciplinary learning experiences.
A proposal from Kristy Cates, development director, KASU, was funded to help support production of a radio program that will showcase student and faculty vocal and instrumental talents in the Department of Music. The hour-long program, to be aired weekly, will be called "In Performance @A-State." The $7,500 grant will help cover production costs.
A project proposed by Dr. Susan Hanrahan, dean, College of Nursing and Health Professions, "21st Century Health Technology – Access/lmpact," was funded at $59,924. The grant will be used to acquire telehealth equipment for educating selected health care providers in the college and region. Dr. Mark Foster, chair of graduate nursing programs, will administer the project.
Dr. Alexis Kendrick, assistant professor of physical therapy, received funding for a women's health program, "The Kays Foundation Women’s Health and Physical Therapy Residency." Over a four-year period, the grant will provide the Department of Physical Therapy $200,000 to develop a women's health physical therapy residency to assist the community with women’s health physical therapy.
Dr. Tarek Ragab, assistant professor of civil engineering, made a successful proposal, “Visually-enhanced structural analysis education using advanced structural software,” which includes $2,500 in funding to acquire specialized structural analysis software. The software will have several features, including an interactive user interface that can help with recruiting high school students by acquainting them with structural engineering analysis and design.
According to Terry Carty, executive vice president of The Kays Foundation, the grants are part of the foundation's ongoing commitment to assist the university through grants in support of projects that advance its academic, service and research missions. The foundation board reviews grant requests annually.
The Arkansas State College Foundation for the Advancement of Higher Education, which does business as Kays Foundation, traces its beginnings to 1911 and the administration of V.C. Kays, the founding president of the institution that evolved into Arkansas State University.
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