The College of Family and Consumer Sciences has received two grants totaling $65,000 for a two-year period.

The American Association of Family Consumer Science donated the grants as part of its Millennium Project.

The project included a nationwide competition between universities, said Mary Winter, associate dean of research and graduate education for the College of Family and Consumer Sciences.

Of the 10 grants given out by the association, Iowa State was the only institution to receive two.

Winter said the first grant focuses on students interested in becoming secondary teachers in FCS.

“[The first grant] is for the training of people who have bachelor’s degrees to be able to receive certification in family and consumer sciences,” she said.

The first grant is in the amount of $40,000, which will be divided into two scholarships for each of 10 students working toward FCS secondary teaching licenses.

These graduate students also will be able to participate in various local and national education-related activities.

Mary Jo Glanville, College of Family and Consumer Sciences communication specialist, said the grant will be a positive addition to the college.

“The real goal is to try to provide teachers at the secondary level in family and consumer sciences and also at the college level,” she said.

The second grant is for $25,000 and focuses on “the recruitment of Hispanic graduate students in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences,” Winter said.

“If there are any Hispanic graduate students who are interested in our program,” she said, “we have funds for them.”

The grant will help to provide graduate assistantships for two years to two students. It will help the students get their master’s degrees or a portion of their doctorates.

The two students will work with middle school and high school teachers in the FCS program in Storm Lake.

“Storm Lake has had an unprecedented growth in the last few years in Hispanic, mostly Mexican-American, middle and high school students,” Winter said. “And the pair of ISU students will attempt to serve as role models for the students there.”

Winter said the college is pleased to have received the grants because they will be a positive force in the graduate program for the next few years.

Glanville agreed that the grants will be a positive addition to the college.

Students interested in the grants can contact the College of Family and Consumer Sciences Research and Graduate Education office in 126 MacKay Hall.