Florida
Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) can upgrade its emergency medical services technology program thanks to a $25,000 donation from an anonymous donor. The college will use the gift to purchase equipment.
“We are so grateful for this gift because it helps us stay up-to-date on the equipment we use to train our emergency medical technicians and paramedics. They graduate with not only the classroom knowledge they need, but also the hands-on experience that makes them instrumental in saving lives in our community,” said Joe Washburn, program director of emergency services programs, in a release.
New Mexico
Mesalands Community College will get a little bigger thanks to a donation of a building by La Placita Plaza Inc. Plans for the property are still being formulated.
New York
Corning Community College (CCC) received a $1-million gift in support of the Walter R. Smith Visiting Scholar Series. The gift, from Smith’s estate, is the largest from an individual in the college’s history. Smith, a historian, worked at CCC for a half-century before retiring in 2008. He passed away in 2015.
“Walter was always an inspiration for intellectual rigor. He is missed by the entire CCC community. It is heartening to know that his spirit, keens sense of curiosity and thirst for knowledge will live on through the endowed series,” CCC President Katherine Douglas said in a release.
The bequest permanently endows the Scholar Series, which launched in 2004. Speakers have included Amory Houghton, Jr., a retired member of the House of Representatives; veteran education policymaker Carl Hayden; and Steven Squyes, a researcher and professor who has participated in many of NASA’s planetary exploration missions.
LaGuardia Community College students will have new research opportunities thanks to a $225,000 grant from the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. The new Robert Gardiner-Joseph Shenker Scholars Program allows students to develop research projects illuminating the history of the New York City metro area, focusing on a theme, such as infrastructure, immigration or housing. The first group of scholars will study the history of LGBTQ activism in Queens.
The scholars program is named in honor of the late Robert David Lion Gardiner, a former Wall Street executive and heir to Long Island’s Gardiner’s Island, and the late Joseph Shenker, the first president of LaGuardia Community College.
Pennsylvania
Community College of Beaver County will use a $150,000 donation to grow its process technology program. The donation comes from Shell Chemicals Co. and will fund scholarships and new equipment for hands-on learning. CCBC is launching a new daytime cohort of the program this month.
Virginia
Northern Virginia Community College (NVCC) will use a $100,000 grant from the Capital One Foundation to develop the Cybersecurity Career Pathways Project. NVCC will work as part of a cohort of 14 community colleges in D.C., Maryland, New York and Texas to narrow its focus using labor-market data. The college will create a pilot program with two public high schools to generate interest in cybersecurity careers.
Paul D. Camp Community College received the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education’s 8th Annual Valley Proteins Award for Workforce Development. The $10,000 grant, funded by Valley Proteins, will help the college create a career studies certificate program in energy technology with a focus on solar energy. The college already has four large solar farms in various stages of review, approval and construction within its service region. College officials are eager to get the program up and running to accommodate the nearly 500 specially trained jobs the facilities will require.
