July 26: New Scholarship to Help KIPP Students Succeed

New Scholarship to Help KIPP Students Succeed

Developed to increase the number of first-generation college students who graduate from Spelman College with minimal loan debt, The Karsh KIPP II Scholarship Endowed Fund will provide $4 million to support endowed and current scholarship initiatives for students from KIPP college-preparatory public charter schools.

Through generous gifts from Martha and Bruce Karsh, co-founders of the Karsh Family Foundation, Spelman will expand the number of high-achieving scholars the College is able to support, said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman.

“As a partner institution and collaborators with the KIPP College Partnership Program, Spelman is committed to identifying strategies that help close the access gap for high-performing, high-need students,” said Dr. Campbell. “We are grateful to the Karsh family for their continued support, which has been critical to delivering the Spelman promise of preparing students for life and career, by ensuring that deserving scholars are supported in college and graduate with a competitive edge.”

The Karsh Family Foundation gave its first gift to Spelman in 2012. In 2018, Spelman received a $2 million gift from the foundation to fund annual and endowed scholarships to support KIPP graduates.

"Spelman is a powerhouse and storied institution with many distinguished alumni and led by visionary President Mary Schmidt Campbell," said Martha Karsh. "It offers everything that our top ‘KIPPster’ women could want: unparalleled academics, an intimate campus, a long line of talented, inspiring, and successful alumnae and a joyful, uplifting approach to higher education. It is truly our honor to partner with Spelman."

Division Chair Directs Daytime Emmy® Winning Netflix Program

Pioneering filmmaker and Spelman College Division Chair for the Arts, Ayoka Chenzira, Ph.D., is part of a team of creatives who earned a 2021 Daytime Emmy® Award for their work on the Netflix series "Trinkets."

In addition, Dr. Chenzira earned a 2021 Emmy® nomination in the Outstanding Directing Team for a Daytime Fiction Program category for her stellar direction of the young adult series.

“Dr. Chenzira brings a wealth of talent and experience to the College, we are honored to have her lead our students through their creative process. Her expertise will leave an indelible mark on future filmmakers,” said Mary Schmidt Campbell, Ph.D., president of Spelman. “We celebrate both her nomination and her role in helping the series win an Emmy®.”

“Trinkets” follows a group of teenagers who find each other at a Shoplifters Anonymous meeting. The characters, who have different personalities and personas in school, form a deep bond after finding out that they all have a shoplifting habit in common.

Dr. Chenzira directed two episodes of "Trinkets" titled “Works in Progress,” and “Ocean’s 11th Grade,” which aired during the second season of the program in 2020. The program also earned a nomination for Outstanding Single Camera Editing.

Spelman Leader to Join National Research Advisory Council

Tasha R. Inniss, Ph.D., associate professor of mathematics and associate provost for research, is one of 25 preeminent scientists, scholars and policymakers selected for the inaugural Springer Nature U.S. Research Advisory Council.

The aim of the new council is to build a better understanding of the scientific and academic community’s diverse, changing research needs and to foster a valuable and equitable research ecosystem.

"It’s great to see Springer Nature wanting to build a stronger understanding of U.S. research needs, particularly for faculty from a breadth of institutional types," said Dr. Inniss. "I’m excited to be part of USRAC, which will help facilitate a better dialogue between Springer Nature and institutions, funders and policy makers.”

USRAC was organized by a steering group and task force of representatives from the Springer Nature Group, an academic publishing company focused on books, journals, magazines and databases, including Nature and Scientific American.

This new body will meet annually in a roundtable workshop format with members drawn from institutions, funders, policy makers and research-driven organizations, and advise on research culture and how research contributes to a better and more equitable society.

Alumnae led Bookstore to Focus on Books by Black Women

As a young girl, finding books written by Black women authors was not an easy feat for Asha Grant, C'2014.

“When I was growing up, reading was a really huge part of how I got to understand myself,” Grant told NBC Los Angeles. “There’s a huge disservice that our entire community gets when there is an entire group of people who are missing from that narrative.”

Grant recently secured funding to open The Salt Eaters Book Shop, an emerging indie bookshop that will prioritize books, zines and comics written and created by and about Black women and girls, femmes and nonbinary people.

Based in downtown Inglewood, California, and named after a book written by former Spelman professor Toni Cade Bambara, The Salt Eaters Book Shop is slated to open in fall 2021.