THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 30, 1994 TAG: 9409300517
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Virginia colleges and students recently received more than $18 million in private gifts and public grants for academic and building programs and scholarships.
Virginia Tech was the biggest beneficiary, receiving two gifts totaling $11.5 million.
An $8 million gift from an anonymous deceased alumnus will finance biotechnology research and programs to train biology teachers and business executives.
Business graduate Robert B. Pamplin Sr. and his son Robert Jr. donated $3.5 million to Tech's Pamplin College of Business. That will go to increase scholarships and add positions for professors.
Hampton University received a $3.75 million grant from the U.S. Army Thursday. The university, in conjunction with Hughes Training Inc., will launch an Aeroscience Institute to train displaced defense workers, women and minorities.
Hampton University also recently won a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of the Navy for its computer science department. The grant, intended to boost the number of minorities in sciences, will allow the school to provide complete aid packages to 44 science students.
And the university received $290,000 from the Pew Charitable Trusts to expand programs to increase the retention and graduation rates of its students.
Other gifts to higher education include:
A $1 million endowment, established by former U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Jr., to award scholarships to high school seniors from Virginia. Winners would get $2,500 each.
Two gifts of $300,000 each to Old Dominion University.
Peter G. Decker Jr., the attorney handling the estate of Virginia Beach businesswoman Celia Stern, has allocated $300,000 to ODU. About $275,000 of that will go to erect signs across campus. ``Most of our buildings don't have signs that are readily readable, and some don't have signs at all,'' said Harry P. Creemers, associate vice president for institutional advancement.
The other gift comes from the estate of Christina Maria, a retired Norfolk teacher. It will provide loans to students majoring in music or the sciences.
A $150,000 grant to Tidewater Community College from the Norfolk Foundation to aid the construction of TCC's Norfolk campus.
The foundation also donated gifts of $5,000 to $50,000 each to seven other local organizations:
The Norfolk school system's Black Achievers program, which provides guidance to minority students; Child Development Resources, for a new center to help children with disabilities; Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation, for exhibits at Nauticus; Norfolk Youth Services Citizen Advisory Board, to establish centers to offer tips on child rearing; Operation Smile, to expand free clinics in Norfolk's Park Place section; the Planning Council, for its Homeless Prevention Program; and Response, which aids sexual-assault victims.
In addition to the more than $18 million from these grants, Norfolk State University recently has received nearly $11 million in grants.
KEYWORDS: COLLEGE DONATIONS GRANTS by CNB