Rep Alma Adams Celebrates $4.68M Investment from IGNITE ACT at University of Maryland Eastern Shore
"Godmother of HBCUs” Welcomes Infrastructure Investments She Fought for in Congress
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (D, NC-12), Founder and Co-Chair of the bipartisan HBCU Caucus, celebrated a federal investment of nearly five million dollars into the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, an HBCU (Historically Black College or University), as part of the federal institutional grants for the New Infrastructure, Technology, and Education for HBCU Excellence (IGNITE) Act she led and passed in the 2023 Omnibus Budget bill.
The investment of $4,680,568 will go into launching the school’s Futures Institute, which will support student-led research into topics such as AI, healthcare, and climate change.
“Investing in our young people is an investment in the future,” said Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. (D, NC-12). “Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and President Biden have shown they are serious about the untapped potential of these schools which have long been inadequately supported. At the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES), these funds will help Marylanders of color continue to build new research perspectives and benefit from a brighter future for all Americans."
“At UMES, we will be driving change in the research community on these topics,” said UMES President Heidi M. Anderson. “We will bring fresh eyes, new perspectives, and determination to create new knowledge; knowledge that will be important to everyone, but especially to communities that have been traditionally overlooked,” she said. “We won’t be content to simply publish research articles, we want to see that research implemented to the benefit of everyone.”
“This is a game-changer for UMES,” said Dr. Sandeep Gopalan, Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, and Principal Investigator (PI) of the grant project.
Rep. Adams has advocated for a fuller version of the IGNITE Act to address the vast backlog of infrastructure repairs and investments HBCUs seek to rebuild their campuses and stay competitive with the many land-grant universities which Black students were forbidden from attending for more than a century.
"We’re going to keep fighting until the backlog is addressed and all minority-serving institutions and schools have what they need to compete, which includes modernizing these campuses that in many cases are more than a century old,” said Rep. Adams. “We won’t stop until our schools are afforded the dignity they deserve.”
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Congresswoman Alma S. Adams, Ph.D. represents North Carolina's 12th Congressional District (Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Cabarrus County) and serves on the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, where she serves as ranking member of the Workforce Protections Subcommittee.