Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs

The Commonwealth has provided $5 million to Framingham State for a major redesign and modernization project at the Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning. This exciting project should greatly expand the Center’s reach both on our campus and throughout the state.

Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a nearly $3 million grant to Framingham State and two of our sister institutions to support the development of a model for advancing early career faculty of color to full-time positions in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Framingham State University, Bridgewater State University, and Worcester State University will partner on creating a national model for a state university system to recruit, retain, and promote cohorts of STEM faculty of color. Framingham State is the lead institution on the effort, which will take place over 5 years.

FSU has been awarded $1.7 million to launch the Framingham Teacher Residency AmeriCorps Program aimed at guiding applicants from bilingual and underrepresented backgrounds toward teaching careers at the secondary level. This exciting new program has been featured in The Boston Globe and on WCVB-TV.

A consortium of six colleges led by Framingham State University, as well as the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, has received a $1,341,866 federal grant aimed at increasing the number of college courses utilizing free Open Educational Resources (OER) rather than costly textbooks.  The project - Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity Lens (ROTEL): Culturally Relevant Open Textbooks for High Enrollment General Education Courses and Career and Professional Courses at Six Public Massachusetts Colleges - will test the hypothesis that underrepresented students will achieve higher academic outcomes if free, culturally-relevant course materials that reflect their experience are utilized. Colleges taking part in the effort, in addition to Framingham State, include: Fitchburg State University, Holyoke Community College, Northern Essex Community College, Salem State University, and Springfield Technical Community College. The project will provide monetary incentives for faculty to create new OER textbooks and adaptions of existing open textbooks using an equity and inclusion lens, which will result in significant student savings per year. For more information about the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), go to: www.ed.gov/FIPSE.

Framingham State University’s Centers for Early Childhood Education (CECE) have been awarded $260,000 from the Department of Early Education and Care for the Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative Implementation Grant. The CECE is partnering with Framingham Public Schools to provide pre-kindergarten to children who reside in Framingham and will be enrolling in kindergarten in September 2022 without experience in an early childhood education program. This grant will support expanded preschool access in meeting family needs, with particular attention to the needs of working families.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded Framingham State University $192,306 to launch a digital humanities center in the Whittemore Library that will serve students, faculty, and the greater community. Digital Humanities combines traditional humanities subjects, such as English, history, and philosophy, with digital computing tools that expand upon our ability to ask and to answer age-old humanities questions about identity, history, and more, according to FSU English Professor Dr. Bartholomew Brinkman. The NEH grant is part of the American Recovery Program and a portion of the funding is reserved for non-tenure track faculty members who have seen fewer teaching opportunities during COVID19.

Dean Susan Dargan submitted a successful $125,000 grant application to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to develop pathways to licensure for Framingham teachers who are currently teaching with emergency licenses that were granted during the pandemic.

History Professor Dr. Joseph M. Adelman’s expertise in revolutionary America has resulted in a $100,000 contract with the Omohundro Institute to run its Across America 1776 project. Dr. Adelman will serve as the project’s coordinator, assisting with planning and programming related to the 2026 semiquincentennial (250th anniversary) of American independence over the next five years.

Framingham State University (FSU) has received a $100,000 grant spread over four years from the Cummings Foundation to create a Summer Bridge Program for underrepresented and first-generation students from low-income households. The focus of the Bridge Program, which launched summer 2021 and will continue through 2024, will be on academics, financial literacy, mental wellness, and inclusive leadership. FSU was one of the 130 local nonprofits to receive grants through Cummings Foundation's $20 Million Grant Program and was chosen from a total of 738 applicants after a competitive review process. "During this time of extreme economic stress and anxiety, we are so grateful to receive this award from Cummings Foundation," says Framingham State University President F. Javier Cevallos. "These critical funds will be used to provide direct assistance to our most vulnerable students as they make the difficult transition from high school to college. A college education remains the most tried and true way to move up the socioeconomic ladder. This program is going to help us ensure that more students are successful when they reach FSU."

The Baker-Polito Administration has announced more than $143 million in grant awards through the FY23 Round of the Community One Stop for Growth, supporting 337 local economic development projects in 169 communities. To view the full press release on the One Stop award announcement, please click here. FSU has received $75,000 to improve ADA accessibility to FSU’s Entrepreneur Innovation Center, improving the front entrance to make it fully accessible and upgrading one facility restroom for improved accessibility. The primary goal of the Innovation Center is to develop and deliver Framingham State University (FSU)'s entrepreneurship academic curriculum while maintaining a vibrant co-working space dedicated to helping MetroWest startups and seasoned entrepreneurs. The focus on Greater Boston's MetroWest region (between Boston and Worcester) grew out of a lack of incubators or shared working spaces in the market, and FSU’s desire to help start new, competitive, and innovative businesses.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) recently awarded the McAuliffe Center a $49,964 grant to run a project-based program that aims to foster awareness and understanding of global and local environmental issues among high-school age youth and their communities. Called Perspective of Earth Team Mentorship, the program involves teenagers from Framingham, Milford, and Marlborough High Schools to integrate environmental and climate education with civic engagement during out-of-school time.

FSU’s College Planning Collaborative has received $40,000 from MA DHE to continue MetroWest Scholars Early Start (MWSES), its Early College Program. MWSES enables FSU faculty to teach college courses to high school students at their schools. All courses are in person or remote (video conferenced). Each partner school offers two cohort dual enrollment courses per academic year. With the continuing evolution of MWSES and now the return to in person classes, we have expanded courses during the school day. Three of the six courses will be offered during the school day and three after school hours.

The Dorr Foundation in New Hampshire has recently awarded $31,771 to the McAuliffe Center’s innovative Perspectives on Earth Teen Mentoring Program (PETM). PETM promotes youth engagement in STEM disciplines by leveraging the youth’s concerns and passion for environmental issues in their communities of Framingham, Marlborough and Milford.

Massachusetts’ Department of Higher Education Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Initiative implements and enhances partnerships between high schools in public school districts and public college or universities to offer inclusive concurrent enrollment opportunities for students with intellectual disabilities, ages 18-22. FSU was awarded $29,727 in 2022 to continue to implement its Diverse Scholars Program.

FSU was awarded $22,341 by the MetroWest Health Foundation for two different programs during the 2021-2022 academic year. With one grant, the Health Center was able to create a Vaping Cessation Program. Students who were motivated to quit or cut back on vaping received a multi-faceted program to help them, based on successful tobacco cessation models.  In addition, the Counseling Center was able to purchase equipment and furniture to better serve students safely during the pandemic.

Framingham State has received three recent grants from The Sudbury Foundation, including two Racial Equity & Inclusion Awards. The Center for Inclusive Excellence used its $3,000 grant to hold a student art contest that responds to prompts about racial equity and inclusion, and purchased several submitted art works to hang in the CIE. The Foundation additionally awarded $5,000 to FSU to provide environmental justice education through public art. This initiative involves collaboration between the Center for Inclusive Excellence, Campus Sustainability, and graphic design students. We plan to invite experts in the fields of racial equity, climate justice, and sustainability to speak with students about the urgent need to combat the climate crisis, particularly at the intersections of race and class. Students will then create a series of designs and images that we will prominently display via window decals on interior glass surfaces and exterior windows across campus. Finally, Dr. Irene Porro, Director of the Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science, received $18,360 to help run the PETM program (described under the Dorr Foundation).

The Professional Science Master’s Degree in Biotechnology program has been awarded a $20,000 grant from The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) to host workshops in promoting biotech STEM education and recruitment. The first workshop will be tailored to the FSU seniors and the junior 4+1 biotech candidates.  The workshop will incorporate experiential learning, critical thinking, technical writing & documentation, and career opportunities.

The National Endowment for the Arts Big Read is designed to broaden our understanding of our world, our communities, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book. FSU is one of 70+ nonprofit organizations to receive a grant to host an NEA Big Read project. The Henry Whittemore Library used the $19,970 grant to host a variety of activities related to the chosen book and indigenous people. With community partners Framingham Public Library and MassBay Community College, the Library distributed An American Sunrise, by America’s first Native American Poet Laureate for a community read. Other planned activities included presentations on Native American history, book discussions, an art exhibit, poetry lectures, a student poetry reading, and a virtual author talk by Joy Harjo.

Adventures in Lifelong Learning (ALL) received a Title III B grant, through Springwell, Inc., to support outreach to isolated elders from underrepresented communities, in the amount of $15,430.  This is the fourth year that ALL has received this federal grant, which provides funding for three part-time contract positions including the ALL outreach coordinator and two ALL multilingual outreach assistants (Portuguese/English) and (Spanish/English) - as well as marketing to elders identifying with these two language groups.

Spring 2021 brought roughly $12,000 worth of grants to two FSU programs – one geared for elders and the other for teenagers – from six different Local Cultural Councils. The Adventures in Lifelong Learning Program, run in conjunction with Framingham Public Library, received $6,220 total from Ashland, Framingham, Marlborough, Natick, and Sudbury Cultural Councils, while the McAuliffe Center’s PETM program received $5,862 from the Framingham, Marlborough, and Milford Cultural Councils. PETM’s goal is to promote appreciation for the connection between local and global environmental challenges and to share youth’s potential solutions to address them. High School students will create awareness campaigns on a local environmental challenge, while being supported by mentors in STEM fields. ALL is an academic program designed to provide intellectual, creative, and social engagement for adults age 60 and over.

Stephanie Grey in the Arts and Music department received a grant from the Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation to travel to and experience Australia. During her travels, Professor Grey intends to explore the culture and landscape of Australia and share insights with the Framingham State University Community, upon her return, in a set of new lectures and workshops.

FSU’s Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning has received $6,060 from the Main Street Group Foundation to support its Perspectives on Earth Team Mentoring (PETM) summer internship program, one of the three educational modules that comprise the year-long PETM program. This program provides work-based learning experiences for young adults to develop skills and practices sought after by many local businesses. PETM is an out-of-school time program serving high school students from Framingham, Marlborough and Milford high schools and two regional vocational technical schools, which are also state designated Title I schools, Keefe Regional Technical School and Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School. PETM leverages youth’s concerns for local environmental issues to motivate experiential learning and address students’ environmental literacy needs such as critical-thinking, evidence-based reasoning and action planning skills. Youth are charged to propose original strategies to reduce local effects of climate change, especially those impacting lower-income and vulnerable populations. PETM aims to contribute to the formation of citizens who understand the multi-disciplinary complexity of environmental challenges and are confident and competent in their ability to address them.

The McAuliffe Center received two grants from the Avidia Bank Charitable Foundation for their Science on State Street event and See Yourself in STEM Team Mentorship program. The Science on State Street STEM event provides high quality, interactive exhibits to engage the community in STEM. The Team Mentorship program offers a series of workshops about diversity, equity, and inclusion specifically applied to STEM education and professional environments for high school students from Framingham, Marlborough and Milford.

Since 2010, FSU’s Office of Career Services and Employer Relations (CSER) in collaboration with several FSU alumni, the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce, the TJX Companies, Inc., along with generous support from Enterprise Holdings, have partnered on the Suitable Solutions Professionalism Program during the fall semester, an effort to prepare students for the world of professional work while also educating them on networking and soft skills that are imperative for emerging professionals. COVID-19 and University budget cuts have significantly impacted the legacy of this program both in size and scope. This $4,662.25 grant will fund a second session during the spring semester of this unique and vital experience. This will enable the Suitable Solutions Professionalism Program to take place twice during the academic year, enabling up to 25 additional students to participate in this highly sought after, interactive learning experience.