CAMPUS NEWS | Titan news on and beyond campus
Mellon grant provides key funds for reopening “For many local businesses, their neighboring college is like the sun—and if that sun goes dark, there’s no backup generator. We want to do everything we can to keep those colleges running.” SAM REIMAN Richard King Mellon Foundation Director
A
$210,000 grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation was critical in helping Westminster reopen safely this fall, while enabling the expansion of virtual learning capabilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Westminster was one of 12 regional colleges and universities to receive grant money from the foundation, which allocated $2.5 million for higher education institutions to use specifically for COVID-related expenses such as enhanced virtual learning needs, COVID testing, personal protective equipment or financial aid. Westminster is using the grant money to support technologies necessary to strengthen its hybrid teaching modalities and to augment health and safety resources needed for this academic year. “Our regional colleges and universities are essential engines for growth—for the students who learn there, the people who
6 w w w.w e s t m i n s t e r. e d u
work there, and for the local communities whose economies we know they so powerfully impact,” said Sam Reiman, foundation director. “The foundation has partnered with each of these schools on projects over the years. And we want to be there for them now, at this critical hour, as they navigate the complex logistics of the COVID-19 pandemic.” Reiman said the Richard King Mellon Foundation is focused not just on the essential importance of higher education to students, but also on the powerful economic impact of colleges and universities on local businesses, particularly in more remote communities. “For many local businesses, their neighboring college is like the sun—and if that sun goes dark, there’s no backup generator,” said Reiman. “We want to do everything we can to keep those colleges running.”
