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Evaluation and Assessment of Gender Leadership Equity and Support (EAGLES)

• Principal Investigator: Lee Ann Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Sciences
• Funding Source: National Science Foundation
• Funding Program: ADVANCE Catalyst
• Award Amount: $300,000
• Project Description: The EAGLES program investigates barriers that exist along the STEM faculty career pathway hindering successful hiring, advancement, and leadership of women, persons with disabilities, persons who identify as LGBTQ+, and peers excluded because of their ethnicity or race.

Preparing Multicultural Scholars for Leadership in Nutrition and Dietetics

• Program Contact: Catherine Arnold, Ph.D., Professor of Nutrition
• Funding Source: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture
• Funding Program: Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program
• Award Amount: $210,000
• Project Description: The Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP) at BenU provides scholarships and funds supplemental opportunities to support the recruitment, engagement, mentoring, retention, and academic success and career preparation of underrepresented undergraduate students pursing a major in Nutrition and Dietetics at BenU.

Arthur J. Schmitt Future Leaders Scholarship Program

• Program Contact: Julie Bjorkman, Ph.D., Associate Dean, Goodwin College of Business
• Funding Source: Arthur J. Schmitt Foundation
• Funding Program: Schmitt Leadership Scholars
• Award Amount: $65,000
• Project Description: The Arthur J. Schmitt (AJS) Future Leaders Scholarship Program is scholarship program targeted to deserving undergraduate students. The AJS Program is offered each academic year as a cohort learning community course, LCOM 2261, in which students are introduced to the different styles, skills, and attributes of effective leadership through readings, discussions, self-assessments and the compilation of a leadership portfolio. Those learnings are then actualized in a service project.

Cuneo Scholars

• Program Contact: Adrian Gonzelez, Director, Office of Financial Aid
• Funding Source: The Cuneo Foundation
• Funding Program: Cuneo Foundation Scholarships
• Award Amount: $50,000
• Project Description: The Cuneo Foundation is a private foundation that provides need based scholarships to assist students in Catholic high schools and colleges and universities. �������� has been a fortunate annual recipient of a Cuneo Foundation Scholarship grant since 2013 with the ability to support two students annually who demonstrate high financial need.

Faculty/Staff Retreat and Vocational Exploration

• Program Contact: Julie Dockery, Chief Diversity Officer
• Funding Source: Council of Independent Colleges/NetVUE
• Funding Program: Professional Development Grant
• Award Amount: $15,000
• Project Description: This project provides faculty and staff with intensive professional development to prepare them to adequately address the specific vocation exploration needs of first-generation and BIPOC students, students with disabilities, and student athletes. Programing constitutes a two-day faculty/staff retreat followed by the creation of a vocation exploration pilot program that engages students in learning and reflection activities aimed toward helping them to discover a life and career of fulfillment.

Prison Inside-Out

• Program Contact: Peter Huff, Chief Mission Officer
• Funding Source: Illinois Humanities
• Funding Program: Envisioning Justice
• Award Amount: $6,000
• Project Description: The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program is a college education program that brings together “inside” students (students who are incarcerated) and “outside” students (students who are enrolled at a college or university) to study as peers within the prison setting. Inside-Out’s mission is to create opportunities for people inside and outside of prison to have transformative learning experiences that emphasize collaboration and dialogue and that invite them to take leadership in addressing crime, justice, and other issues of social concern.

Westlake Scholarship Program

• Program Contact: Deb Jezuit, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Professor of Nursing
• Funding Source: Westlake Health Foundation
• Funding Program:
• Award Amount: $300,000
• Project Description: The Westlake Foundation Scholarship (WFS) provides financial support for prospective students to pursue the Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) through the RN to BSN, the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), and the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs at ��������. Benedictine is classified as an institution serving under-resourced populations and as such, we expect to enhance recruitment of a diverse student population and first-generation college students who will benefit from the Scholarship.

Open Minds, Open Books

• Program Contact: Joy Matteson, M.L.S., University Librarian
• Funding Source: Illinois State Library
• Funding Program: Open Educational Resources Grant
• Award Amount: $132,716
• Project Description: This faculty led initiative at �������� aims to revolutionize affordable cost materials by creating open educational resources in high cost general education courses to foster equitable learning opportunities for our first year students. By offering high quality open access textbooks, we empower students academically while easing their financial burdens. This project particularly benefits first generation college students, enabling access to essential educational materials.

MCA Pilot PUI: Ecological Opportunity in Phanerozoic Marine Animals: The First Statistical Comparison

• Principal Investigator: Phil Novack-Gottschall, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Sciences
• Funding Source: National Science Foundation
• Funding Program: Mid-Career Advancement
• Award Amount: $244,307
• Project Description: This research grant, sponsored by the National Science Foundation, Division of Earth Sciences–Sedimentary Geology and Paleobiology, supports faculty-led research to quantitatively test how the ecological structure of marine animal life changed throughout the past 550 million years of life.

RENEW Midwest – From the Underground to the Cosmos

• Program Contact: Matthew Wiesner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physics
• Funding Source: S. Department of Energy, Office of Science
• Funding Program: Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce for High Energy Physics (RENEW-HEP)
• Award Amount: $425,000
• Project Description: RENEW-Midwest is a U.S. Department of Energy-funded partnership among ��������, the University of Michigan, and Black Hills State University. The goal is to help students interested in astronomy and physics to complete a bachelor’s degree in physics and to be competitive applicants for graduate study in physics and astronomy. This program begins with a summer research experience for undergraduates (REU) in physics and astronomy at University of Michigan, for which housing is provided and students are paid a stipend. Following the summer experience, students continue studying physics at �������� while being paid for astronomy research 10 hours per week. The program continues through graduation, with the opportunity to reengage in the Michigan REU each summer.

LSST-DA Catalyst Fellowship Funded Mentors Program Award

• Program Contact: Matthew Wiesner, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Physics
• Funding Source: Legacy Survey of Space and Time Discovery Alliance
• Funding Program: Catalyst Fellowship – Expansion Mentors
• Award Amount: $50,000
• Project Description: The Catalyst Fellowship aims to realize the full potential of the Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), both through new discoveries and by creating exceptional opportunities for astrophysics and social science researchers. Early-career researchers are sought who aspire not only to conduct their own cutting-edge scientific research but also to contribute to the program’s lasting legacy by building networks, learning and sharing skills, and cultivating practices that enable science with big data. The intent of the expansion mentors is to expand the perspective of Catalyst Fellows, preparing them for effective leadership within a diverse and evolving astrophysics community that conducts research in a wide variety of environments.

Independent Colleges Capital Investment Grant Program

• Program Contact: Bryan Goodwin, Director of Facilities Management
• Funding Source: Illinois Board of Higher Education
• Funding Program: Independent Colleges Capital Investment Grant Program
• Award Amount: $6,604,497
• Project Description: The Illinois Board of Higher Education has awarded $400 million in grants through the Independent Colleges Capital Investment Grant Program to 45 institutions of higher education in Illinois in partnership with the Illinois Capital Development Board. The goal of the program is to provide financial assistance to private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in Illinois for the construction, repair and renovation of infrastructure on campuses to provide equitable learning experiences to students across the state.

William Randolph Hearst Endowed Minority Science Scholarship

• Program Contact: Dan O’Brien, Director of Advancement Services
• Funding Source: Hearst Foundations
• Funding Program: Scholarship Support
• Award Amount: $6,905
• Project Description: This scholarship grant provides financial support for underrepresented minority students with a minimum 3.0 GPA who demonstrate an interest in medical school or research.

RN BSN Student Success Project

• Program Contact:��Program Contact:��Deb Jezuit, Ph.D., R.N., Associate Professor of Nursing
• Funding Source:��Illinois Board of Higher Education
• Funding Program:��Nursing Expansion Grant
• Award Amount:��$137,918
• Project Description: This program seeks to expand and enhance the BenU RN to BSN Nursing Program to address the critical shortage of registered professional nurses with high-quality postsecondary credentials in Illinois by increasing the enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of historically marginalized groups. The project focuses on closing equity gaps in nursing education through targeted interventions including enhanced academic support services, mentoring, and course delivery models that accommodate working adults and students with diverse learning needs. Additionally, it provides financial support to help students overcome barriers to degree completion