Kays Foundation doles grants for projects to ASU faculty

by Talk Business & Politics staff ([email protected]) 326 views 

The Kays Foundation has awarded grants to three Arkansas State University faculty members to help support their projects during the 2019-20 academic year.

Terry Carty, executive vice president of The Kays Foundation, said the grants are part of the foundation’s ongoing commitment to assist the university through grants in support of projects that advance its academic, service and research missions. The foundation board reviews grant requests annually.

A total of $14,651 in grants will be distributed on July 1.

The foundation board awarded $2,142 to Brenda Anderson and Kristie Vinson, College of Nursing and Health Professions, as principal investigators in a project to provide cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) training for faculty and students.

They are acquiring two new sets of adult and infant manikins with feedback devices, which meet updated American Heart Association requirements, in order to conduct the training. Anderson is associate professor of nursing, and Vinson is assistant professor of physical therapy.

The board awarded a $4,786 grant to Rebecca Cooper, research assistant in the Ecotoxicology Research Facility, as principal investigator for a project to study heavy metal concentrations in soybean field soils used by native bees. The award will be used for supplies involved in data collection, which will aid in a larger U.S. Department of Agriculture project.

The study will be performed in regional soybean fields in cooperation with farmers. Cooper and her associates will study native bee populations in the Arkansas Delta, and how they aid in the pollination of soybeans and thus help increase crop yields.

A third grant for $7,723 was presented to Dr. Philip Tew, associate professor of finance in the Neil Griffin College of Business, to fund a new program called SCARLET (Smart College And Real Life Educational Training) to Black. Tew will use the grant to hire student interns to help plan and promote workshops open to all A-State students, helping them to better understand and manage their financial matters, and to help them make better financial decisions.

The Arkansas State College Foundation for the Advancement of Higher Education, which does business as Kays Foundation, traces its beginnings to 1911 and the administration of V.C. Kays, the founding president of the institution that evolved into Arkansas State University. It’s a non-profit organization that has been in existence for 100 years.