Georgia State president awarded $500,000 to use for academic initiatives

A non-profit organization announced Tuesday that Georgia State president Mark Becker is a recipient of a half-million dollar award to be used for various academic programs he’s developed at the university.

The Carnegie Corporation of New York named Becker one of its seven recipients, citing his work as a “leader in student equity.”

Georgia State has used data to identify when students need academic support, helping boost the graduation rate of black students in science, technology, engineering and math fields by 69 percent over last five years and 226 percent for Hispanic students, according to the foundation.