SPRINGFIELD — The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded Western New England University (WNEU) $649,111 for a five-year grant to offer scholarships to students. The target populations are students who are high achievers in high school whose family demonstrates they will benefit from financial aid. The grant will create a community-outreach program to increase the number of high-school and middle-school students entering and succeeding in STEM fields.

The grant, titled Sustainable Pathways to Success for Low-income STEM Students Emphasizing Research and Innovation, was awarded to Jingru Benner, assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering and a team of educators from the university including Dean Hossein Cheraghi, Michael Rust, and Anthony Santamaria from the College of Engineering; Raymond Ostendorf from the College of Arts and Sciences; and Bryan Gross, vice president for Enrollment Management and Marketing. Benner will serve as principal investigator and project director.

The project will increase the number of high-school students who have access to enroll in the WNEU Mechanical Engineering program. The grant provides funding for an annual need-based scholarship that will be added on top of each student’s WNEU merit scholarship and can be combined with the university’s Women in Engineering or FIRST Robotics Scholarships.

In addition, the grant will fund critical resources for students in the program to receive targeted support to help them successfully graduate. The resources will include mentored research with faculty, entrepreneurship development, community-service projects, the option for participation in learning communities, and expert guest presentations. Students will also have access to customized career consultations to begin early career planning.

“The world needs the best and brightest minds to solve the problems of today — and those yet to be imagined,” WNEU President Robert Johnson said. “This grant will help us to welcome more deserving and high-achieving students into our supportive community. We are grateful for Dr. Benner and the team’s efforts to bring this important National Science Foundation grant to WNE.”

The program will study the impact of immersed research experiences combined with entrepreneurial mindset training on student retention and degree completion. It is the first National Science Foundation S-STEM grant awarded to WNEU, now nationally ranked with a top-100 Engineering program.

“The premise is that the combination of research experience, to deepen the student’s technical knowledge, and entrepreneurship skill development, to train the students to identify innovative opportunities and integrate classroom learning to create value for society, will improve the pathway to success for STEM students in achieving their career goals,” Benner explained. “The strategy for implementation is carefully designed and will be used in conjunction with other student services on the WNE campus.”

Such an investment has the potential to not only transform individual lives, he noted, but those they will impact through their future careers.

“The NSF grant is a vote of confidence that this program will advance the understanding of the relationship between the proposed activities and student success,” Gross said. “The findings from this project will add new knowledge toward defining what effective curricular and co-curricular activities work to improve the persistence and success rate of college students from low-income communities in STEM fields.”

SPRINGFIELD — The Connecticut Bar Assoc. (CBA) announced Professor Jennifer Levi as the 2021 Tapping Reeve Legal Educator Award winner. The award is presented to legal educators who have made significant contributions to the cause of legal education over a period of years and have distinguished themselves as legal educators of the highest quality.

Levi serves as a professor of Law at Western New England University (WNEU) School of Law. She has dedicated her career to fighting for the rights of women, children, the poor, and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered clients, and was a founder of the law school’s Center for Gender and Sexuality Studies, which is now part of the School of Law’s Center for Social Justice. In addition, she is a nationally recognized expert on transgender legal issues and the director of GLAD’s Transgender Rights Project litigating precedent-setting cases establishing basic rights for LGBTQ people.

Established in 2012, the Tapping Reeve Legal Educator Award is presented to a member of the Connecticut Bar Assoc. who is a member of the faculty, a clinical instructor, or an adjunct instructor at UConn, Quinnipiac, Yale, or Western New England University law schools, or a member of the CBA who has contributed greatly to the legal education of his or her colleagues. The recipient must have demonstrated sustained commitment and made significant contributions to the cause of legal education in the state and have distinguished himself or herself as a legal educator of the highest quality as a teacher, scholarly writer, or both.

Judge Tapping Reeve, the namesake of this award, was an American lawyer, educator, and jurist. He is recognized as founding a law school in Litchfield, Conn. considered to be the first formal school of law in the U.S. offering a vocational curriculum for future attorneys.

Levi will be formally awarded this distinction at the 2021 Celebrate with the Stars virtual event on Thursday, April 8.

SPRINGFIELD — Maria Toyoda, currently the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and professor of Political Science & Legal Studies at Boston’s Suffolk University, has been appointed senior vice president for Academic Affairs and provost at Western New England University, effective July 12.

President Robert Johnson announced the appointment, citing Toyoda’s successes in cross-disciplinary collaboration, commitment to student success, procurement of grant funding, modernization of processes, and mobilization of faculty as partners in the recruitment process at her prior institution.

“We are honored to have Dr. Toyoda join us at an important inflection point in the history of Western New England University,” Johnson said. “Currently, the WNE community is crafting a shared ambition to guide us through the next phase of our evolution. Her expertise and leadership will be instrumental as WNE stakes its position as a model for the new traditional university, one that provides an education grounded in professional studies, enhanced by the liberal arts, and renowned for mentored research that produces graduates who are work-ready and world-ready.”

Toyoda will be the university’s chief academic officer and oversee the academic integrity of all colleges, schools, and institutes on campus. The position is responsible for working with the deans and faculty to maintain the quality of current programs, develop new programs, and oversee the academic-appointment process.

“Institutions of higher learning have a responsibility to train active and civically engaged citizens who are discerning in both their consumption and production of information,” Toyoda said. “WNE’s aim of shaping future citizens imbued with personal values of integrity and accountability, tolerance and respect, and social responsibility aligns with my own ideals around education that emphasizes mastery, practice, creativity, perceptiveness, and personal growth.”

In her current role at Suffolk University, Toyoda oversees 18 departments with 200 full-time faculty and staff with responsibility for an undergraduate population of 5,000 students. On March 30, she was honored as one of Get Konnected’s 50 Most Influential People of Color in Higher Education. She received her PhD and master’s degree in government at Georgetown University and a bachelor’s degree in human biology from Stanford University with honors in values, technology, science, and society.

Toyoda succeeds interim Provost Curt Hamakawa, who will return to his previous position as professor of Sport Management. Hamakawa is also the director of the Business Study Abroad program, the Business Honors program, and the Center for International Sport Business in the university’s College of Business.

SPRINGFIELD — “National Security Priorities in Biden’s First 100 Days” will be the topic of a discussion by Western New England University (WNEU) School of Law Dean Sudha Setty on Thursday, April 15 at noon. The cost for this virtual event, presented by the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts, is $10 (free for students).

Setty will discuss various national-security priorities of the Biden administration, including investigations into domestic terrorism, anticipated policy changes regarding targeted killings, and foreign-policy priorities.

Setty became dean of the School of Law in 2018 and has served on the faculty since 2006. She is the author of National Security Secrecy: Comparative Effects on Democracy and the Rule of Law, the editor of Constitutions, Security, and the Rule of Law), and has written dozens of articles on national-security law and policy.

She was recognized as part of the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Top Women in the Law in 2019, and the WNEU School of Law honored her with the Catherine J. Jones Professor of Year Award in 2009, 2016, and 2018. She was recognized in 2015 as a Trailblazer by the South Asian Bar Assoc. of Connecticut and received the 2017 Tapping Reeve Legal Educator Award from the Connecticut Bar Assoc. In July 2018, she was elected to membership in the American Law Institute.

The April 15 event is sponsored by Glenmeadow, Sir Speedy, and Wilbraham & Monson Academy. For more information and to register, visit the World Affairs Council of Western Massachusetts website at www.wacwestma.org.