Grant Projects 2023-24

Grant Projects 2022-23

3D Printers for Engineering & Physics | $5,000

Funding will be used to purchase two 3D printers for the engineering and physics building. 3D printers, an essential tool for hands-on learning in higher education and STEM programs, will allow students to learn new, critical skills and gain a competitive edge in the workforce.

Career Pathways Internship Grants | $3,000

The Career Pathways program proposes to provide compensation for students to enable them to work in unpaid internships for small business and organizations. Unpaid internships provide essential, relevant work experience, but those opportunities present challenges for both students and potential employers. For many students, an unpaid internship isn’t feasible given their financial situation. Integrating an internship grant program would increase the number of internships that are available and financially viable for students to pursue, simultaneously supporting career outcomes and confronting barriers for diverse student populations, in particular.

Childcare Expense Grant | $2,000

The Women’s Leadership Network is dedicated to creating opportunities for women to develop personal and professional leadership skills, and nurturing a global network of female leaders. In the School of Continuing Studies, our students seek those opportunities; however, many are single parents, often navigating several responsibilities at a time. And even more often, without support to help with childcare. The support provided by this grant will help ease that burden and create opportunities for women to excel in leadership positions. This grant would provide four individuals in the adult degree programs a grant of $500 each to help support their personal and professional development by helping with the cost of childcare.

Cultivating Female Leaders 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 places an average of 50 students in 20-30 ministries/nonprofit organizations for summer employment opportunities. A grant in full would fund a student's summer ministry placement and allow for expansion of the program's ministry network by partnering with a new ministry.

DEI Research Guides | $1,500

This project would fund one or two student positions to work supervised by a librarian to collect and organize academic and/or authoritative sources of diversity, equity and inclusion content, with an emphasis on voices from within the communities. This content would be used to create research guides on the library website to support student research and training on a range of issues. Potential topics could include: diversity in ministry, inclusion in leadership, disparities in health care, how to be an anti-racist, the Black Lives Matter movement, supporting first-generation students, OER for equity, etc.

NCAA Women Coaches Academy | $1,000

This grant allows Whitworth’s female coaching staff to attend the NCAA Women Coaches Academy. This amount would allow for female coaches (head and assistants) to fund the majority of the costs associated with the Academy along with travel. Usually coaches do not have any additional fundraising money set aside to put toward professional development, especially for assistant coaches. 

Peer Research Consultants | $2,028.60

Students often lack confidence and experience with doing research. This grant would support a Peer Research Consultant (PRC) for 10 hours/week, for 14 weeks of the fall 2022 semester. The PRC would be a trained peer-advisor to help students with getting started in and feeling comfortable with doing research. They would be located in both the Library and in the Intercultural Student Center. This will be especially impactful for incoming students just beginning their academic journey at Whitworth. The consultant can help ease the fears of research and provide quality training in making the student more confident and skilled moving forward.

PRO Closet | $3,000

This grant requests gift cards for students to purchase proper and professional clothing attire needed for an interview or first job. Professional attire like suits and dresses are an additional cost that is often not in the budget of many college students, specifically low-income and first-generation students. These student populations are growing at Whitworth and whose financial struggles are particularly sensitive to the volatile economic and financial circumstances, which creates barriers in purchasing professional attire for the next step in their professional lives. However, we know that no matter a students’ financial situation, all students are concerned about how to show up as their best self for that job interview.

School of Business Student Lounge | $3,000

The Whitworth School of Business would like to remodel the main lobby area of the office in Weyerhaeuser Hall, Suite 310. Currently, the front office area is not being utilized efficiently and is not set up in a particularly welcoming or resourceful layout. The WSB looks to create an area that will be welcoming to students, parents, alumni, donors and the Whitworth community. To do this, we would like to rearrange and partially remove cubicles, purchase a few pieces of new furniture, add lighting, repaint a few walls to a lighter, more inviting color, and install an affixed study counter with stools. Our goals are to elevate the initial greeting and impression of the office, provide a space for students to work independently in between their classes, have an area for multi-person discussion and/or group work and have the flow of the office be more efficient and helpful for everyone.

School of Business Student Support Scholarship | $2,000

The Whitworth School of Business (WSB) would like to create a scholarship designed to assist a student who has high financial need, may have exhausted their funding opportunities, and who did not receive any other scholarships through the School of Business for the 2022-23 academic year. International students in particular do not qualify for state or federal aid, therefore they do not have the same opportunities for funding. 

Textbook Lending Library Expansion | $2,000

The Textbook Lending Library was founded in 2019 for undergraduate students with financial need to borrow required texts for classes free of charge. With additional funding, the library will be expanded to serve graduate and continuing studies students as well. Most of Whitworth’s continuing studies and graduate students are working full time, raising families, and going to school in the evenings. They take this difficult journey to grow and launch a fulfilling career and greatly benefit from the financial relief of purchasing textbooks.

Women in Finance Student Club | $1,500

Whitworth’s Women in Finance  club was established in 2021 and would not have been possible without the generous support of the Whitworth Women’s Leadership Network. The goal of WIF is to build female students’ confidence through competence, creating a weekly space where students come together to work a variety of hands-on problems, subsequently building competence and increasing confidence as they plan to enter into primarily male-dominated fields. WIF’s original curriculum focused on financial statement analysis and basic spreadsheet skills, and in academic year 2022-23, WIF is planning on continuing these topics while expanding into additional areas of hands-on application in order to broaden its impact. This will be accomplished via partnering with female business and economics professors in the Whitworth School of Business as well as through completing two Wall Street Prep© facilitated online courses. We are requesting WLN grant support to purchase 20 Wall Street Prep© course licenses, which will include 10 Excel Crash Course licenses and 10 Institutional Banking Soft Skills licenses for the 2022-23 club members. 

Women’s Leadership Certificate Scholarship (Elevate) | $2,865

Elevate: Whitworth’s Leadership Certificate for Women was developed by the Women’s Leadership Network and Graduate Studies in Business Programs to create opportunities for women to develop personal and professional leadership skills. With one-on-one coaching sessions offered with each course, individuals have endless opportunities to engage, inspire, and be inspired by other women, helping them step into and excel in leadership. In the School of Continuing Studies, many students – and often single parents - are navigating several responsibilities at a time and are already committed to opening up opportunities for themselves, despite hardships they may be facing. We want to make that easier, at least financially, and provide for them opportunities to excel in leadership positions. We’re requesting a grant to offer three individuals in the adult degree programs support for their personal and professional development by attending one of the courses ($955 each) included in the certificate series.

Big Art by Whitworth Women | $2,750

A faculty member and female student artists are proposing to work together on a commissioned, large-scale piece of art to be permanently displayed in the University Recreation Center. Learning this process will build the student’s portfolios and résumés, as well as empower them to design and implement murals and large-scale artworks of their own. The funding will be used for art supplies and tools, as well as stipends for women artists working on the project over the summer. The project will enliven the space in the U-Rec for years and create an aesthetic experience for gym-goers.

Building Women Leadership in Life Sciences | $1,000

This grant proposes the implementation of a new program that seeks to build confidence in female biology majors. Faculty proposes to offer women biology majors a more tailored educational experience that includes leadership training and exposure to women in leadership positions in the life sciences. The grant requests a four-event series that includes a presentation and Q&A by the guest regarding their career path, advice for young women looking at a career in STEM, as well as socializing and networking for guests and participants.

Career Community Mentoring | $2,500

Career communities focus on grouping specific industries to assist students in exploring their career options within eight specific industries. For example, a computer science or communication major could consider many different industries including healthcare, non-profits, technology, etc. Career community mentors in each industry will meet each semester with Whitworth students to help explore what careers look like in these industries.

Cultivating Women in Ministry Leadership | $2,000

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 places an average of 50 students in 20-30 ministries/nonprofit organizations for summer employment opportunities. A grant in full would fund a student's summer ministry placement and allow for expansion of the program's ministry network by partnering with a new ministry.

DEI Development for the Christian Student Newsroom | $2,250

The Whitworthian seeks to develop a series of training and development materials in order to better understand what it means to be an anti-racist newsroom. This grant would pay for a student to conduct research, develop and distribute materials. There is a lack of good resources for student newsrooms seeking to provide DEI development opportunities to their student staffs. Issues of gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and more need careful and considerate coverage. There are even fewer resources that speak to a faith-based mandate to "do unto others" when it comes to student journalism.

Gender Equality Movement Club – Women’s History Month Speaker | $1,500

The newly formed Gender Equality Movement (GEM) is requesting funds to bring a Women's History Month speaker to campus. The 2021-2022 school year will be the first in which the club is fully up and running, and they would like to establish an annual tradition of a guest speaker for this important yearly acknowledgement of women's contributions to our history. Funds will be used for speaker fees, travel expenses and promotional materials. This event will celebrate women's accomplishments and share with the WU community the impact that women have had on our society, as well as ongoing obstacles that women encounter in their lives. This funding also supports a group of dedicated young women leaders (the founding officers of GEM), showing them that their work is important and that they are supported by other women in their pursuits.

Learning to Lead Summit for Female High School Students | $3,000

The Women’s Leadership Network sponsored Whitworth’s first “Learning to Lead” leadership summit for female high school juniors and seniors, held via Zoom in April 2021. Despite its virtual format, the experience helped prove the concept and value of connecting our current and future/prospective college students to discuss women’s leadership in a supportive and collaborative environment. This grant proposes holding a one-day Learning to Lead Summit on campus; a day-long program that provides students exposure to dynamic female leaders from the extended Whitworth community, interactive sessions and activities, time to collaborate and reflect, and a shared meal.

Pro Closet | $2,000

This grant requests gift cards for students to purchase proper and professional clothing attire needed for an interview or first job. Professional attire like suits and dresses are an additional cost that is often not in the budget of many college students, specifically low-income and first-generation students. These student populations are growing at Whitworth and whose financial struggles are particularly sensitive to the volatile economic and financial circumstances, which creates barriers in purchasing professional attire for the next step in their professional lives. However, we know that no matter a students’ financial situation, all students are concerned about how to show up as their best self for that job interview and therefore, the program would be open for any students in need to apply. By supporting Whitworth students in this tangible way, we uplift our young leaders to pursue their professional and leadership goals by removing financial barriers to professional attire and guiding them to showcase their knowledge, skills and potential.

Resilience of Immigrant Students and Families | $3,000

This grant requests two things: campus visit sponsorships for five immigrant families and development of a population-specific mental health workbook that provides exercises, practices, stories and healing practices to support the development of college students impacted by immigration. A visit sponsorship allows families to immerse themselves in their students’ college education (e.g. class and residence hall visit, social with staff and faculty, meals in the dining hall, etc.).

Literature on supporting immigrant students is still limited. Whitworth’s Counseling Center and DEI offices have found that students impacted by immigration have high mental health needs, but the majority of traditional practices and workbooks lack in their cultural responsiveness. This grant supports the creation of material that compiles recent literature and practices that infuses family, interdependent, and collectivist values and practices, and adapt them to the college-aged student and immigrant populations.

School of Business Career Pathways | $3,000

The WSB Career Pathways program proposes to provide compensation for students to enable them to work in unpaid internships for small business and organizations who will benefit from the intern's contribution. Unpaid internships provide essential, relevant work experience, but those opportunities present challenges for both students and potential employers. For many students, an unpaid internship isn’t feasible given their financial situation.

Whitworth University is committed to providing a liberal arts education that empowers individuals for lifelong learning, professional development, and meaningful citizenship and service to society. Integrating an internship grant program would increase the number of internships that are available and financially viable for students to pursue, simultaneously supporting career outcomes and confronting barriers for diverse student populations, in particular. 

STAFF: Successful Thriving Accomplished Fulfilling Fellowship | $3,000

This grant proposes to promote women in leadership by providing opportunities to meet with and hear from women who are leaders in their chosen fields, and will benefit over 200 staff members who work at Whitworth University. Staff development will invite speakers and host social events that offer leadership development, relational development and shine a light on the importance of the women on Whitworth’s staff as they come together to create an impactful, strong community.

Wai'anae to Whitworth Women-In-Action/Mana Wahine | $2,500

The female scholar-students of the Wai'anae to Whitworth (W2W) request funding for an empowerment retreat for women of color and female allies across Whitworth's campus. W2W scholar-students will engage with a visiting female scholar and receive professional skills development to create and facilitate workshops. W2W scholar-students will facilitate those workshops to their Whitworth peers at the retreat. During the retreat, the visiting scholar will be a keynote speaker to offer more skills and knowledge to women at Whitworth (women of color and allies) on topics related to female leadership. The retreat will also include sessions focused on areas of social issues, adjusting to campus life, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) traditions through reflection called Talk Story.

The W2W scholarship program has been growing in the last four years, and scholar-students have been adapting to the cultural differences. This project would give scholar-students more of a sense of belonging in the inland northwest and at Whitworth.

Women in Finance Club – Excel Training Licenses | $500

The purpose of this grant request is to purchase 12 licenses to the Wall Street Prep Foundational Course in Excel, to be utilized by the Women in Finance club. In 2021-22 WIF plans to continue building on newly-developed curricular units on financial statement analysis in the fall, and in the spring the club would like to dig deep into Excel. The Women in Finance organization directly supports the goals of the WLN by promoting the professional development of female students in terms of confidence with quantitative analysis as well as hands-on competence with the technical skills employed. WIF connects current students with working analysts within the Whitworth alumnae and friend community who will help support both how technical financial skills are utilized in a variety of ways in the real world as well as why they are important.

Women's Leadership Summer Summit for High School Students | $3,000

A one-day Women's Leadership Summit for high school juniors and seniors. The full-day event would include keynote talks, table discussions and breakout sessions. It can provide a unique opportunity for female high school students to be exposed to dynamic female leaders from the extended Whitworth community. Topics related to female leadership, as well as sessions focused on particular areas of future professional interest can leave students excited about being future leaders and aware of and connected to the Whitworth community of female superstars.

Diversity Leadership Conference Participation | $3,000

Student groups often contact the DEI office seeking funds to attend conferences that focus on diversity, equity and inclusion leadership. 

These requests typically include either funding for travel, lodging or conference registration. Some of these requests include attending conferences designed for leadership development for women and/or students of color, and tend to be discipline-specific, such as business, education, political science or ministry focused. This funding will allow the DEI office to support more students with these types of opportunities. The DEI office uses a set of established criteria to decide which requests are funded.

Female Coaches' Leadership Development | $500

This funding allows the four female head coaches in Whitworth's athletic department to attend/register for female coaching & leadership professional development opportunities.

With fewer female leaders in coaching and athletics administration, WU staff hopes to increase their own  leadership skills, paving the way for our own players to step into these roles in the future. 

Female Health & Wellness Nutrition Speaker | $1,000

This funding would provide a nutritionist to speak to female student-athletes about how to fuel a women's body for high-intensity sport. This speaker would be available to all female student athletes either via an in-person workshop, presentation or online webinar. We can also open it up to the general female population at Whitworth as well. A female nutritionist, opposed to a general sports nutritionist, would be able to specifically speak to our female athletes and address their concerns about how the female body responds differently to foods, stress and physical activity, especially at a collegiate athlete level.

Women in Finance Curriculum Materials | $2,400

Launching in fall 2020, the Women in Finance Club will provide a  supportive environment for technical skill-building in the areas of financial analysis and modeling for Whitworth students. WIF was founded by female business students after both students and faculty noticed a concerning pattern: In group presentations, such as Whitworth Student Invest Group (WSIG) stock pitches, female team members would tend to deliver the “softer” introduction/industry overview sections of the presentations, whereas the “harder” analysis was delivered by male team members.

WIF is designed to increase female students' confidence through competence with financial analysis; it is a curricular program that provides hands-on instruction on financial analysis and modeling techniques. WIF training complements and reinforces other training students may have received in business courses, though there are no requirements or limitations regarding majors or areas of interest.  Weekly topics and skills will be reviewed, “taught” via both peers and internal and external experts (we hope WLN members!), tested through hands-on activities, and most importantly, discussed in terms of how they are used in the real world and why they are important to decision-making. 

STEM WOC Conference | $750

The funding will be used to allow women of color in STEM disciplines (specifically engineering, physics, computer science, math and chemistry) to attend the virtual portion of the STEM Women of Color Conference that is occurring in Detroit on Oct. 8-10, 2020. The grant request would fund the $25 registration for 20 students as well as pizza for dinner one evening.

Currently there is not a good sense of belonging with women in disciplines like computer science and engineering. This is even more true for WOC in these areas. Attending this conference will allow the students who attend to gain leadership skills that they can bring back to Whitworth and impact the areas where women are under-represented. 

Female Diversity & Inclusion Spoken Word Poetry Workshop | $1,500

A spoken word poet to workshop with female student-athletes and female students on campus. The workshop will culminate in a performance for the Whitworth community including the entire athletics department. 

Part of the athletics department's Diversity Action Plan is to create programming for student-athletes. This workshop is one component of the plan. Our goal is to build a series of events throughout the 2020-21 academic year that cover a variety of DEI topics. This project has the capacity to address gender, culture, socioeconomics, ability, racial and religious topics.

Cultivating Women Ministry Leaders | $3,000

The purpose of this grant request is to provide hands-on experience, mentorship and professional development for women desiring to pursue or consider a future vocation in ministry/service.

The Summer Fellowship Program places an average of 50 students in 20-30 ministries/nonprofit organizations for summer employment opportunities.Fully fund a student's summer ministry placement. A new placement would not only expand the Fellowship program's ministry network, but would also allow the Fellowship program, in collaboration with WLN, to choose and partner with a new ministry site that may otherwise be unable to fund a student fellow position. The selected site will share the WLN's vision to equip and develop young female leaders and provide female supervision and mentorship to the WLN student scholarship recipient.