The grant comes from the Avis Foundation and will help improve the university’s animal health and veterinary nursing program, the Executive Coaching and Leadership Certificate program, and the Doctoral Program in Occupational Therapy.
Huntington University has received an $850,000 grant from the Avis Foundation in order to make improvements to the capacity of three of the university’s key programs: the animal health and veterinary nursing program, the Executive Coaching and Leadership certificate program, and the Doctoral Program in Occupational Therapy. The grant will be distributed over three years and will help scale up the programs’ resources and staffing in order to handle the continued enrollment growth in these programs.
According to an article on Huntington University’s website, Dr. Sherilyn Emberton, the university’s president, was quoted as saying of the grant, “The funding initiatives through the Avis Foundation provide Huntington University with wonderful opportunities to expand our abilities to serve students in new ways. For the next three years, University faculty and staff in occupational therapy, veterinary nursing and executive coaching will see new frameworks and methodologies to strengthen their learning experiences. This seed funding will be matched to increase the impact and allow the University to build capacity in key areas of growth. We are very grateful to the Foundation and to the legacy work of Leland and LaRita Boren for their philanthropic vision.”
This is not the first time Huntington University has received support from Leland Boren or from the Avis Foundation; previously, funds were granted to the university to make improvements to its programming in the Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies and to make improvements to the university’s student center.
This round of funding from the Avis Foundation is focused on increasing the ability of three of the university’s programs to support increased interest and enrollments.
The university’s Bachelor of Science in Animal Health and Associate of Applied Science in Veterinary Nursing programs will benefit from the funding, with support for an increase in staffing and lab equipment to handle the nearly tripled enrollment the program is experiencing since it first launched in the Fall 2023 semester. The Associate of Applied Science in Veterinary Nursing program is a collaborative effort with Purdue University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. The growth of the programs will allow the university to prepare to become a regional testing site for the competency skills needed to receive a veterinary technology license.
The grant will also benefit the Executive Coaching and Leadership Certificate program, which licenses software via the Coach Approach Skill Training curriculum from the Holmes Coaching Group. With the grant funding, the school will be able to purchase its own curriculum to offer further customization of its offerings that will still allow it to retain its International Coaching Federation approval.
Finally, the grant funding will expand the bridge program that is offered on the university’s Arizona campus: the OTA/PTA to OTD bridge program. This program is for individuals who are working as occupational therapy assistants or as physical therapist assistants who would like to become doctors of occupational therapy. The grant from the Avis Foundation will allow the program to expand by hiring a program director and clinical instructors, as well as developing a new curriculum.
For more information about Huntington University, visit the school’s website.