Last year, when the UNH Police Department needed funds to add a comfort dog to the force, chief Paul Dean knew just where to turn: the UNH Parents Council. Since 1992, the Parents Association Student Enrichment Fund has made it possible for the council to support student-centered groups across campus whose activities enhance the college experience. Earlier this month, the council announced some $59,000 in 2020 enrichment grants to 32 student-focused and student-supporting organizations and activities — including $4,000 to the UNH Police Department for a yellow lab named Charlee, who has quickly become a campus fixture.
“It’s very hard to choose among the groups that come to us with requests for support, but Charlee was our number-one choice when we were evaluating the list that came in,” says Ann Kinslow, who chairs the Parents Council Student Enrichment Committee. “It was such a unique request, and one that we knew would benefit a significant cross-section of the UNH student population.”
The majority of Parents Association Grants provide seed money for emerging projects and support the expansion of existing efforts and new aspects of ongoing initiatives. That often means equipment for academic projects and club sports, as well as registration fees for conferences and competitions. The grants do not support travel expense requests.
The complete list of 2020 grants is as follows:
Alabaster Blue: $1,000
Association of Exercise Science Students: $1,000
Baja Racing Team: $4,000
Baseball Team: $1,000
Campus Recreation — Hamel Recreation Center: $2,000
Campus Recreation — Sports Clubs: $2,500
Campus Recreation — Whittemore Center Arena: $2,640
CEPS Senior Capstone Design Project: $500
Chem-E-Car: $1,500
Club Tennis Team: $3,300
Collective for Advancing Multimodal Research Arts: $750
Dance Team: $1,300
Engineers Without Borders: $3,280
Fencing Team: $500
First-year Innovation and Research Experience Program: $871
LunaCats: $2,000
Makerspace at the Peter T. Paul Entrepreneurship Center: $2,000
Marketing and Advertising Club: $2,475
Men's Club Hockey: $2,500
Men's Wrestling Club: $3,000
Phi Beta Kappa National Honor Society: $1,200
Precision Racing Team: $1,000
Sailing Team: $3,000
Students for Global Health: $1,050
UNH Police Department: $4,000
Wave-Powered Water Pump: $1,000
Women's Club Lacrosse: $1,310
Women's Club Rowing: $1,800
Women's Rugby: $2,620
Women's Softball: $1,000
Woodsmen’s Team: $2,500
Zoological Society: $400
Kinslow says it’s been an honor to head up the student enrichment committee, and exciting to get a closer look at some of the many initiatives being led by students across the university. Her one piece of advice for future grant applicants? “Please read the requirements. We’d love to fully fund every request we receive, but we have a strict set of guidelines we need to follow.” Students and group who understand those, she says, stand the best chance of success with the grant review process.
