RADFORD – Radford University colleges and departments are strengthening and expanding programs and research, thanks in part to grants that have been awarded in recent weeks.

They include:

• Student Support Services, $2,722 awarded to project director Veronica Lewis, channeled through the U.S. Department of Education Federal TRIO program. Funds will assist Student Support Services in identifying qualified individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds and to prepare them to succeed in a program of postsecondary education.

• College of Education and Human Development - Special Education, in conjunction with the Infant and Toddler Connection of the New River Valley, $24,000 awarded to Kathryn Hoover and Kathryn Pierson, channeled through the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. Funds will be used to pay for direct services for infants and toddlers with disabilities.

• Also within the College of Education and Human Development – Teacher Education, $5,105 awarded to Jane Swing and Ron Kolenbrander, channeled through the Virginia Department of Education. Funds assist in expenses for the GED annual meeting; $3,395 to Kolenbrander and Swing for Individual Student Alternative Education Plan (ISAEP) training from the Virginia Department of Education; and $6,100 awarded to grant project director Liz Alteri from George Mason University – U.S. Department of Education for continuation of distance education courses and tuition assistance for students enrolled in the Special Education program.

• College of Information Science and Technology – Anthropology, $5,464 awarded to project director Cliff Boyd, channeled through the City of Radford. Funds benefit Phase I of an archaeological survey of the Second Avenue and Park Road improvements.

• Waldron College of Health and Human Services, School of Social Work – $17,364 awarded to project director Susan Schoppelrey, channeled through the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Funds benefit rural mental health studies.

• Also within the Waldron College, Communication Sciences and Disorders – $92,186 awarded to project directors Diane Millar, Pat Rossi and Liz Lanter, channeled through the Jessie Ball DuPont Fund.  Funds benefit the RU Autism Center Summer Institute.

• Radford University Police Department – $9,000 awarded to project director Scott Shaffer, channeled through the Virginia ABC Board’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention program. Funds for project “Underage and High Risk Drinking: What RU Thinking?”