HBCU Week Conference: Black College Leaders Counseled on Federal Contracting, Grant Opportunities - Higher Education

HBCU Week Conference: Black College Leaders Counseled on Federal Contracting, Grant Opportunities - Higher Education: To win federal grants and contracts, college leaders must gain a realistic sense of their institutional capabilities, hire faculty with a vision to do more than just teach, and be willing to remedy any shortcomings identified in their proposals.

It also pays to “spy” on competitors and research the mission of the agency from which funds are being sought.

Those were among the tips that federal administrators and university leaders offered Wednesday during the final day of HBCU Week at a panel discussion titled “How to Effectively Engage the Federal Sector.”

“There are opportunities out there,” said Leslie Pollard, president of Oakwood University in Huntsville, Ala., which he described as the “Silicon Valley” of the South. “But it’s going to take for us as HBCUs a certain kind of self-assurance that’s grounded on a realistic assessment of what our capabilities and capacities are.”