Campus Highlights.

The Jackson State University Center for Spatial Data Research and Application (CSDRA) has been awarded $50,000 per year for three years from the Mississippi Space Commerce Initiative (MSCI) at the University of Mississippi. MSCI, a joint project of the University of Mississippi, the Mississippi Department of Economics and Community Development, and NASA, was established to promote the commercial use of remote sensing technology. JSU is one of the leading Geographic Information System research installations in the region and is the first of its type at a Historically Black College or University. CSDRA provides networking, training, research and applications and has several projects that range from technical systems research to regional resource development tasks. Jackson State has also been chosen as one of the four research universities in Mississippi to participate in the MSCI scholarship, which is valued at $12,000 for masters or doctoral studies in remote sensing. The scholarship will be awarded for one y ear and it is renewable for one or two years depending upon satisfactory academic progress.

Florida A&M University is the official location for the Institute of Urban Policy and Commerce thanks to a bill passed recently by the state legislature. The bill formally establishes in statute the Institute on Urban Policy and Commerce as a Type 1 institute at FAMU. More than $675,000 was allocated by the legislature this session to provide staffing for the Institute, which is designed to pursue basic and applied research on urban policy issues confronting the inner-city areas and neighborhoods in the state. This will allow FAMU to lead the State University System on research issues as related to urban revitalization efforts. The institute will work to influence the equitable allocation and stewardship of federal, state and local financial resources and train a new generation of civic leaders and university students interested in approaches to community planning and design. It will also support the community development efforts of inner-city areas, neighborhood-based organizations, and municipal agencies.

Twenty-seven students from South Carolina State University have been selected as national outstanding leaders. These Students will appear in the 1999 edition of Who's Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities. They join an elite group of students selected from more than 1,900 institutions of higher learning in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and several foreign nations. Students were selected based on their academic achievement, service to the community, leadership in extracurricular activities and potential for continued success.

Dillard University and Xavier University of Louisiana have been chosen to benefit from The Lilly Endowment-United Negro College Fund Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program. The $950,000 grant brings Dillard University's first-quarter fund-raising total to $2.2 million. The award supports the development and expansion of capital, outlay needs for Dillard's Information Technology Improvement Initiative. The Endowment will grant Xavier University $1.15 million that will help support the cost of the institution's recently-dedicated $20 million Science Addition. The science addition, which effectively doubles the laboratory, classroom and office space available to the biology, chemistry, computer science and physics/engineering programs, will serve Xavier's record setting growth in the sciences. The Lilly Endowment/UNCF HBCU Program was created with a $41.7 million grant to The College Fund/UNCF from the Lilly Endowment, its second largest single grant in the endowment's 62-year history.

Dr. Trudie Kibbe Reed was recently inaugurated as Philander Smith College's eleventh President. Dr. Reed, who is the first woman to hold the position of President at Philander Smith, has held several prestigious positions including the former Director of Leadership Studies at Columbia College of South Carolina. Her vision for the college includes enhancing globilization and cross-cultural communications as well as establishing an Honors College in the field of Natural and Physical Sciences. Also among newly inaugurated presidents is Dr. Ronald L. Swain. Dr. Swain, Wiley College's 15th president, has a long history of work in academia including his most recent position as vice-president for institutional advancement and planning at Shaw University in Raleigh, NC. His vision is to provide state-of-the-art facilities and equipment to undergird the educational experience.

The Donald W. Reynolds Foundation has awarded a $24 million grant for cardiovascular clinical research to The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, the largest peer-reviewed grant ever made to the institution. The award, which will be distributed equally over a four-year period, will establish the Donald W. Reynolds Cardiovascular Clinical Research Center. The nationally competitive grant will advance research into the prevention and treatment of heart disease caused by atherosclerosis, or plaque buildup of the inner lining of the arteries.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates recently pledged to donate $1 billion for college scholarships for minority students saying he wants to change the face of American leadership, including that of his own company. The "Gates Millennium Scholars Program," supported by the world's richest man, and his wife Melinda, will provide 1,000 scholarships a year for 20 years to African-American, Asian-American, Hispanic and American Indian students. The gift is the couple's largest single philanthropic contribution and among the largest ever. "I do hope in the years ahead that as you look at the kids in school and you look at our industry, you will see a broad, diverse representation, because I think that really builds a strong America," said Bill Gates. The United Negro College Fund will administer the scholarship program starting next year with help from the Hispanic Scholarship Fund and the American Indian College Fund.

Curtis Doucette, Jr. is a technical writer for Avondale Industries in Avondale, LA.