Grant Projects 2023-24
Career Closet Inventory Manager Grant | $1,000
This grant funds a Student Career Closet inventory manager to monitor the professional clothes in the School of Business Career Closet for 3-5 hours per week over the academic year. This position manages the Excel inventory of items and takes donations from the Whitworth and Spokane communities that make the closet more robust. The role is also responsible for marketing the Career Closet; scheduling student visits to the closet; assisting students in selecting professional attire for interviews, presentations and professional photos; tracking closet items that are checked out or available to borrow; and inspecting returned clothes for damages, cleaning or repairs.
Child Care Expense for Adult Education | $3,000
The School of Continuing Studies helps working adults achieve their wildest dreams by providing accessible pathways to degree completion. Many of our adult students are also single parents, navigating myriad responsibilities with very limited resources. The support provided by this grant will help ease the costs of child care, and create time and space for single parents to focus on their studies. The requested $3,000 grant would provide six $500 gifts for these adult students.
Communication Conference for PR students | $3,000
This funding would be used to further the education of the leadership team for Beyond the Pines, Whitworth's student-led public relations agency. Beyond the Pines is comprised of three women, leading a group that is comprised almost exclusively of women. The agency works with the Whitworth community and local nonprofits on strategic communication projects, such as social media campaigns, event development, website content, brochure design, writing press releases, etc. With any funds given, these three students would be sent to a conference focusing on public relations that would further develop their skills and aid them not only in their current leadership roles at Whitworth, but as they go into the work world after college. The exact conference would be determined based on funding and student schedules, but might include the National Communication Association Conference or the more regional Northwest Communication Association Conference.
Cultivating Women in Ministry | $2,100
The purpose of this request is to provide hands-on experience, mentorship and professional development for women desiring to pursue a future vocation in ministry/service. The Summer Fellowship Program has placed an average of 32 students at 15-20 ministries and nonprofit organizations for summer employment opportunities over each of the past three years. Over the course of the spring, we will read a book together (last spring we read "Try Softer" by Aundi Kobler), and will meet 2-3 times as a group to discuss the book and how it’s inviting us to think deeper or more holistically about what it looks like to be women in and pursuing ministry. We’ll take the Strengths Finder test and talk about each of our strengths and how these can be specifically beneficial to the spaces we’re in. The scholars will then interview women in leadership at their fellowship sites over the summer as a way to immerse themselves more in understanding the various roles women can take in ministry. This funding would include $2,000 to cover fundraising costs for four participants ($500 each) and $100 for their books.
Graduate Studies in Business – Women in Leadership Scholarship | $3,000
Whitworth Graduate Studies in Business seeks to create a scholarship fund that is designed to empower women toward their development as business and industry leaders. This scholarship fund would benefit women who are enrolled in a graduate business degree program (Master of Business Administration or Master of Business Leadership) and who demonstrate a need for financial assistance to access opportunities for leadership development. The scholarship would enable Whitworth to come alongside high-potential women, increase their access to financial resources, and empower them toward advanced leadership education. 1-2 scholarship recipients would be identified in fall 2023 for enrollment in the Entrepreneurship Summit. 1-2 scholarship recipients would be identified in spring 2024 for enrollment in the Executive Leadership summer series.
History Department Study Abroad Scholarship | $3,000
This grant awards two female students with high financial need a scholarship to go toward their study abroad tuition for the January 2024 term.
Institute of Leadership Women's Scholarship | $2,985
The Institute of Leadership dreams of creating a scholarship fund for women, enabling them to participate in this transformational experience. If awarded, the institute would offer this scholarship to a woman who will benefit from the program’s mission to prepare and empower high-potential individuals to make innovative and sustainable impact in their positions of leadership.
Lives of Commitment | $3,000
This grant encourages students to pursue a year of service after college with groups like Jesuit Volunteer Corps, Presbyterian Volunteer and others. Five grants of $500 each to students who serve or intern during their junior or senior year in preparation to apply for a year of service after college is proposed. Students in this program commit to 20 hours of service with a local nonprofit and meet with a faculty advisor (Julia Stronks). In addition, other faculty members mentor students during the year of service.
Pro-Closet Scholarship | $3,000
Applicants in need of clothing items for internships, first career jobs or interviews will receive a gift card to a local department store to purchase needed items. In 2023, 32 students benefited from this program at a cost of more than $3,000.
Soak: Creative Growth and Watercolor Exhibition | $2,000
This grant supports the creation of a series of podcasts and articles by women artists and the discussion and art that follow. As a part of the project, students will meet eight times and will host an exhibition of their created work in the Cowles Student Gallery in the Lied Center for the Arts in November and December 2023. The goals are to support and mentor students in their development as confident artists by sharing the professional and academic experiences of other female artists through the facilitation of dialogue about women’s art issues, the honing of their technical skills, exhibition experience, and development of their visual vocabulary and conceptual direction.
Supporting Clinical Experiences in Health Professions | $2,800
Students within Whitworth’s three graduate health sciences programs (athletic training, physical therapy and occupational therapy) complete several hundred hours of unpaid clinical experiences as part of their graduate program curriculum. These clinical experiences teach essential professional knowledge and skills and are a required part of entry to most healthcare professions. However, the cost of clinical experiences is not insubstantial. In addition to paying tuition, students may also be required to temporarily relocate for a clinical experience, incurring travel and housing costs. Students who have limited finances may opt out of excellent clinical placements that are out of region due to an inability to afford the additional short-term housing costs. This can create and reinforce socioeconomic inequities between students who can vs. cannot afford excellent (but costly) clinical experiences. We know that clinical experiences, like internships, can help create powerful professional networks and often lead to future employment opportunities.
The goal of this grant would be to provide financial support for expenses related to clinical experiences, enabling students with financial need to consider the best clinical experiences for their career goals (rather than limiting their options based purely on cost). Specifically, the funds would be awarded through a competitive process that considers student need. Students would be eligible to apply for a $700 award to be applied to clinical experience related expenses. We would ask awardees to share about their experiences with the cohort following them, thus fostering leadership in the awardee and interest in future cohorts to reach for excellent clinical experience opportunities even if the experience has financial costs.
Unpaid Summer Internship Scholarships | $3,000
The Summer Internship Scholarship Program awards undergraduate students with need-based scholarships ranging from $500-$2,000 to cover summer tuition expenses for unpaid or underfunded credit-bearing internships during summer term. Eligible students are those pursuing unpaid or underfunded career-related experiences during summer within nonprofits, government, education, arts, public service, and other industries that are traditionally unpaid or provide minimal compensation for students. Additionally, students must meet the internship offices’ and academic department requirements for credit-bearing internships.