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AMHERST, N.Y. -- The Higher Education Capital (HECap) Matching Grant Program Board has awarded ˿����Ƶ College a $161,253 grant to allow for security enhancements and other improvements in the college’s Wick Campus Center. 

“We are delighted with the award of this important funding from the State of New York,” said Dr. Greg Nayor, vice president for student affairs and dean of students. “Through some innovative financial partnerships on campus, ˿����Ƶ will be able to apply these critical resources to enhancing centralized security and access control systems for our students across the campus through our security hub in the Wick Campus Center.”

According to the Higher Education Capital (HECap) Matching Grant Program, 62 applications totaling $64.5 million were received from New York State private, non-for-profit colleges and universities. ˿����Ƶ is one of 29 higher education institutions from across the state that received a total of $35.3 million in grants and received the highest scores and the full grant amount requested. 

In announcing the grants, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said, “New York’s colleges and universities are among the best in the nation – and with this funding, we are helping them make big investments that will benefit students in both the near and long-term future. I’m proud to be supporting these important projects because they will ensure a stronger and more competitive higher education environment in New York for years to come.”

˿����Ƶ President Gary A. Olson applauded the grant award, stating: “˿����Ƶ is proud to have won this important financial award in a very competitive round of HECap funding. Our Student Affairs team and grant experts on campus deserve great credit for developing an innovative, collaborative private matching plan that will directly benefit our students’ safety and security.”

Discussions will begin soon between officials at ˿����Ƶ and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY) on the implementation of the proposed college plan to ensure communications and security redundancy as part of ˿����Ƶ’s ongoing efforts to bolster its emergency preparedness network housed within the Wick Campus Center.

Funding from the Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program provides matching grants to private colleges and universities for construction, rehabilitation or repair of classrooms, laboratories and other facilities. The program requires grantees to match approximately $3 for every dollar provided by New York State.