May 26, 1998 - Three State Universities Receive Grants
Contact: Melinda Voss, (651) 296-9443, melinda.voss@so.mnscu.edu
Three Minnesota state universities this month received grants from the Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse to support violence-prevention education.
Mankato, St. Coud and Southwest state universities competed for the grants with colleges and universities across the state. Seven schools received a total of $50,000.
Mankato State University will use its $9,931 grant to create interdisciplinary courses on violence and abuse prevention. Mankato is teaming with local community and technical colleges, community-based agencies, Immanuel-St. Joseph's Hospital and numerous campus departments, including the Kessel Institute for Peace and Change, to produce the curriculum.
St. Cloud State University will use its $4,080 grant to create internships for future professionals to educate others about violence, abuse, harassment and hate crimes. The goal is to promote access to interdisciplinary violence education for graduate students.
Southwest State University will use its $5,465 grant to collaborate with New Horizons Crisis Center in producing the campus' first undergraduate, team-taught introductory violence education course for students in education, psychology, social work and sociology. The course will be called "An Introduction to Understanding and Preventing Violence and Abuse."
The other schools receiving grants are St. Olaf College - $8,895, Mayo Graduate School of Medicine - $5,300, University of Minnesota's Child Abuse Prevention Studies Program - $6,328, and the University of Minnesota's Center for Violence Prevention - $10,000.
The competitive grant program is a response to a 1995 state-wide task force report on how to teach college graduates about violence and abuse. The task force made 56 recommendations addressing curriculum development, licensing changes and continuing education.
The Minnesota Center Against Violence and Abuse supports education research and access to information. The center awards grants as part of a violence education project that aims to prepare college graduates and practicing professionals to better respond to issues of violence.
The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is the largest provider of higher education in the state of Minnesota. The system includes 36 state universities, community colleges, technical colleges and comprehensive community and technical colleges in 46 communities around Minnesota and a campus in Japan. The system serves approximately 145,000 students.
