Chronicle of Higher Education September 8, 2010 New Multimillion-Dollar Grants Go to U.S. and African Universities By Kevin Kiley The U.S. Agency for International Development and a Washington-based group, Higher Education for Development, awarded grants of up to $1.1-million on Wednesday to partnerships between 11 American universities and 11 African counterparts that aim to deal with some of Africa's biggest developmental challenges. The programs were developed through the Association of Public Land-Grant Universities' Africa-U.S. Initiative. The association lobbied for funds, which were then distributed by U.S. AID and Higher Education for Development. The programs that received awards on Wednesday were part of a group of 33 universities that received $50,000 last year to plan projects. Congress then appropriated a total of $15-million to support the 11 projects selected on Wednesday, which will actually be carried out. The grants are part of an effort to strengthen higher education in sub-Saharan Africa and develop the region's economy. The projects focus on regional and national economic-development issues such as teacher preparation, HIV/AIDS research, food security, and agriculture. For example, one partnership, between Ethiopia's Addis Ababa University and the University of Connecticut, will develop a water-resources engineering program. Another partnership, between Brown University and the University of Ghana, aims to develop a National Educational Center of Excellence in HIV/AIDS. Each partnership has developed a five-year strategic plan and a 10-year long-term vision. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org www.hbculibraries.org 404.592.4820 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Register now http://www.hbculibraries.org/html/meeting-form.html for the October 24-26, 2010 HBCU Library Alliance 4th Membership Meeting and the "Conference on Advocacy" pre-conference in Montgomery, AL. The Pre-Conference and Membership meeting are open to directors and other librarians.