By Doug Nadvornick, College of Medical Sciences
SPOKANE, Wash. – U.S. Bank has awarded a grant that will help Washington State University Spokane expand outreach in schools and rural communities.
The $30,000 will support WSU’s STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) collaborations with K-12 schools in the Spokane area. For example, several times a year, pharmacy and medical students take specially prepared animal parts, such as hearts and eyeballs, into K-12 classrooms to provide hands-on learning opportunities for younger students.
The grant will also support WSU’s efforts to break down barriers in health sciences education so students in different disciplines develop skills working as members of health care teams. The money will help WSU recruit more faculty members who have backgrounds in interprofessional training.
“Our region’s business and civic communities benefit greatly from the university’s collaborative programs in the STEM fields,” said Linda Elkin, regional president for U.S. Bank in Eastern Washington.
“Our STEM program allows us to show students what a campus looks like, what nursing and pharmacy and medical students do…basically to explain how to feed into the health sciences pipeline,” said WSU Spokane Chancellor Lisa Brown. “The generous grant from U.S. Bank will allow us to expose more students to success in high demand, high wage jobs.”
Contacts:
Nancy Fike, WSU Spokane development, 509-358-7616, nancy.fike@wsu.edu
Amy Frantti, U.S. Bank Corporate Communications, 612-303-0733, amy.frantti@usbank.com