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

January 10, 2017 Atlanta - Georgia State President Mark Becker speaks at Carter & Associates LLC on Tuesday, January 10, 2017. On Tuesday, Georgia State University and the private development team that acquired the former Atlanta Braves stadium near downtown showed off new renderings showing the design concepts of what they hope to build on the 68-acre site.

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

January 10, 2017 Atlanta - Georgia State President Mark Becker speaks at Carter & Associates LLC on Tuesday, January 10, 2017. On Tuesday, Georgia State University and the private development team that acquired the former Atlanta Braves stadium near downtown showed off new renderings showing the design concepts of what they hope to build on the 68-acre site.

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.

The corporation was founded in 1911.