VMI Receives duPont Grant
Virginia Military Institute was recently awarded a grant by the Jessie Ball duPont Fund in the amount of $50,000. The purpose of the grant is to deepen institutional understanding of VMI history by researching, documenting, and publicly sharing the experiences of African Americans and other historically underrepresented populations connected to the Institute.
According to Briana Williams, chief diversity officer in the Office of Diversity, Opportunity, and Inclusion (DOI), the grant was an unexpected result after a group of VMI faculty and staff members participated in the Inclusive History Certificate Program offered by the duPont Fund and the University of Virginia last year.
“It was a 12-week remote-learning course about the importance of inclusive history projects and how to implement them successfully. It brought people together from the Department of Economics and Business; the Department of English, Rhetoric, and Humanistic Studies; the Department of History; DOI, VMI Archives; and the VMI Museum System.”
The group’s work didn’t stop when the program ended.
“We kept meeting and developing ideas, and that continued engagement led to an invitation to compete for this grant. For me, this is a story about what we can accomplish when we bring our different perspectives and expertise together, and our cadets will benefit from that collaboration.”
Cathy DeSilvey, registrar/curator for the VMI Museum System, explained how the grant funds will be used.
“Some of the duPont Fund grant will go toward stipends for cadet interns who will digitize hundreds of archival documents in order to establish a repository on the enslaved to be used for cadet research. The museum will also create a traveling exhibit highlighting the contributions of the enslaved and underrepresented at VMI. What I’m most excited about is our plan to build a webpage of archival resources to share with the greater Lexington community.”
Additionally, the grant may be used to fund a speaker series as well as field trips open to all cadets.
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