Philander Smith College (PSC), a historically black college in Little Rock, Ark. founded in 1877, has received $8 million from the United Methodist Church to build a health and science center, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported Tuesday.

The grant -- to be distributed over four years -- is a record amount both for the college and for the Methodist Board of Global Ministries, which approved the donation through its Harry R. Kendall Fund. The grant is also larger than the college's $6 million annual budget, the Democrat-Gazette reports.

The money will pay for a science and health center on PSC's campus. The college is partnering with both Nashville, Tenn.'s Meharry Medical College and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences to launch an undergraduate program to prepare students for medical and health programs, the newspaper reports.

PSC also hopes to recruit students from Africa, Haiti, Mexico and other developing nations into the program.

The school's largest personal donation is a $500,000 gift received in January from alumna Esther Birch Wiley, a retired counselor for the Los Angeles public school system

The college also is part of the five-year, $1 million grant program funded by the Bank of America Foundation and administered through the United Negro College Fund to boost teacher education curriculum.

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