Higher Education

The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation makes grants to improve the quality of higher education. Grants may be made to institutions outside of Los Angeles County, but the Foundation strongly prefers to support colleges and universities in Southern California.

Institutions receiving grants recently include:

• California Institute of Technology, one of the most renowned and highly regarded schools of science and engineering in the world. To continue its vanguard research in the biological sciences, the Institute has launched a $100-million initiative to build laboratories. A grant from the Foundation will help provide laboratory equipment, including a high-performance computational machine needed to study protein design and other biological structures.
  
  
• Art Center College of Design, an internationally recognized educational institution specializing in art and design. Located in Pasadena, Art Center offers bachelor’s degrees in advertising, film, art, design and photography. A grant from the Foundation will help Art Center advance its course offerings in the areas of digital media, a new computer-based technology that adds motion to graphic design and influences all areas of study at the school.
  
  
• Pacific Oaks College, one of only four institutions of higher learning in the United States solely committed to children and families, and to preparing students for careers as teachers, counselors and administrators. Most of the students are female and are often first-generation college students from diverse backgrounds. For these students, the biggest obstacle to attending college is finding the money to pay for it. A grant from the Foundation is providing scholarship funds for low- and moderate-income students.
  
  
• Mount St. Mary’s College is widely praised for its programs to enable limited-English-speaking women to attend college. This Los Angeles liberal arts school has a student population that is nearly 50% Latina with the remainder a mix of Anglo, African-American and Asian/Pacific Islander women. A Foundation grant will help the college to purchase equipment needed to include molecular theory and techniques in its science curriculum.
  
  
• Southwestern University School of Law, a 90-year-old law school in Los Angeles that strives to include women and minorities among its students (current enrollment is 50% women and 23% ethnic minorities). A Foundation grant is supporting completion of a historically sensitive renovation of the Bullocks Wilshire Tea Room on the fifth floor of the architecturally significant 1929 Modern building recently acquired by the University. The meticulously restored room will provide an attractive and much-needed dining area and meeting place for students, faculty, staff and visitors, and will be available for community meetings and events.