10 projects receive Kenan-Biddle grants

Students at UNC and Duke University who collaborate on projects got a little financial acknowledgement Tuesday.

The Kenan-Biddle Partnership announced the inaugural winners of its $5,000 grant. The 10 projects selected were chosen from a pool of 91 applicants.

The purpose of the grants is to promote student projects that feature collaboration between UNC and Duke University.

The program is funded by a joint $150,000 donation from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust and the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation.

One grant recipient was the Bhutanese Empowerment Project, which provides assistance to Bhutanese refugees in the Triangle area. It draws volunteers from UNC and Duke’s Hindu Students Association.

“Now we’ll be able to do parts of our project that we wouldn’t have been able to do before,” said Shivani Desai, the group’s co-chairwoman.

She said the groups will spend their grant money on transportation for student volunteers and an upcoming seminar for Bhutanese families on the college admissions process.

She said the Kenan-Biddle Partnership highlighted the collaboration between the two groups that had existed before the grants were announced.

“The pieces just fell right into place,” Desai said.

Dr. Ron Strauss, executive associate provost, said he was excited by the search for grant projects.

“Just an amazing picture of the two campuses and the desire to work together,” said Strauss, who serves as co-chairman of the partnership’s advisory committee alongside Larry Moneta, Duke’s vice president for student affairs.

Although the program had to extend its deadline a week, Strauss felt it had no effect on the pool.

“We didn’t want to cut out people who were struggling to get in,” he said.

Mike Lefevre, Duke’s student body president, said he was only disappointed by the project’s inability to fund more projects.

“I’m only sorry we couldn’t give 91 grants,” he said.

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