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Author Archive for Rick Leonhardt

COVID-19 Crisis Response Grants – Spring 2020

On April 28th, 2020, the board convened for its Spring meeting (by teleconference). During this meeting the board discussed the current COVID-19 crisis now griping our nation and the state of New Mexico. The board agreed that one of the most pressing issues is food insecurity. The board expressed a desire to address this emergency […]

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A Message Concerning the Coronavirus

Like you, we are monitoring the Coronavirus situation closely. We recognize that we are now surrounded by highly unusual circumstances. As a result we wanted you to know that you can take whatever measures you deem necessary as far as administering a grant from our Foundation. Specifically, if you need (or are required) to suspend […]

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Grant to The International Association for Geoscience Diversity

The Foundation recently made a $10,000 grant to The International Association for Geoscience Diversity (IAGD). We made this grant in large part because the mission of IAGD fits well with the spirit of the Minka Scholarship Program. From their grant request we learn that the mission of IAGD is as follows: “To improve access to […]

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Grant to the James L. Carter Scholarship Fund at UT Dallas Geosciences

The Foundation’s Minka Scholarship Program has teamed up with the geosciences department at the University of Texas at Dallas and has made a $5,000 grant to the James L. Carter Scholarship Fund in Geosciences. Scholarships from the Carter Scholarship Fund will support masters students studying geosciences at UTD. Dr. Carter taught in the geosciences department […]

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Getting Bent Out of Shape Over Scholarship Displacement

In setting up the Minka Scholarship Program we did our due diligence. Using the Association of Small Foundations (now Exponent Philanthropy) member forum, we contacted a number of small foundations running scholarship programs. We also contacted National Scholarship Providers Association (NSPA). What stopped us in our tracks was a nasty little scholarship secret called scholarship […]

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Grant to University of South Florida—A Pilot

At our January 31st, 2017, board meeting, the board approved a grant of $15,000 in support of the cancer research lab at the University of South Florida led by Mildred Acevedo-Duncan, Ph.D. We made a similar grant in fiscal year 2015–2016. I mention these grants because in part they started us thinking about making scholarship […]

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Minka Scholarship Program Web Site Up and Running

Just a quick blog post to let you know that the Minka Scholarship Program web site is now up and running. Our scholarship program is now designed to support graduate students who are pursuing careers in the field sciences like marine biology and field geology. Feel free to look around our web site and learn […]

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Minka Scholarship Program Site Under Development

The Minka Scholarship Program Site is under development. We will make an official announcement when the site is open in the near future.

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