North Carolina A&T State University and Winston-Salem State University expanded research opportunities in 2009 with increased grant funding.
N.C. A&T State University won awards worth $57.7 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30, an increase of 25.9 percent from 2008. UNC-Greensboro’s awards totaled $35.4 million, a decline of 8.7 percent. The figures come from a report provided to the UNC Board of Governors at its February meeting.
Winston-Salem State University, which has yet to launch its first Ph.D. program, has a smaller research operation but increased its awards by 34.4 percent to $12.1 million in 2009. UNC-School of the Arts had no sponsored research during the year.
At its face, grants to sponsor HBCU research introduce a wealth of new experiences and expertise among minority practitioners in a variety of fields. But as the article elaborates, these funds also help to improve the public profile of HBCUs.
Sponsored research is critical to universities for several reasons. One is economic, because by definition the dollars come from outside the budget-strapped system, and are used not only to hire faculty and graduate students, but also indirectly to support the costs of facilities and equipment.
And high-level research can lead to technological advances that can be licensed or spun off into new companies. A university’s ability to draw sponsorship money also helps to lure top faculty away from other schools.
