Center for MSIs’ #MeetTheMatch campaign shares stories to encourage social giving

At Minority-Serving Institutions across the country, students and faculty benefit from the work of Penn GSE’s Center for MSIs. In the last year alone, the Center, run by Marybeth Gasman, has produced in-depth reports, offered research fellowships, created a guide to graduate school for students at MSIs, and run a conference for early-career MSI faculty.

Throughout October, the Center conducted its #MeetTheMatch microgiving campaign to raise $15,000 as part of a challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. Every day this month, the Center has told a story explaining who benefits from its work – from graduate students who are alums of MSIs to faculty at historically black colleges and universities to current undergraduate students.

Edward Williams, a student at Jackson State University, was profiled October 23. He spoke about the profound effect of attending the Center’s Graduate Student Weekend. “I gained so much knowledge and self-confidence,” he said. “The MSI conference helped me to believe in myself again.”

Michael Sorrell, an alum of Penn GSE’s Higher Education Executive Doctoral Program and the 34th President of Paul Quinn College, praised the Center:

"It is difficult to fully explain the value of the Penn Center for MSIs. It is a special place, with a special mission. The Center produces thoughtful, data-based information in an accessible fashion. We all know that the real future of higher education will lie in purposeful and innovative collaborations. In a very unique fashion, the Penn Center for MSIs has become a model for this type of thinking." 

Read all the stories here.

As of October 28^th, #MeetTheMatch was 70% funded. The campaign runs through October 31^st, and you can donate by visiting the Penn social giving site.