Kansas City, Mo. ? The Sprint Foundation is giving a $1 million grant to help establish an Urban Education Research Center at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s School of Education.

The school says in a news release that the grant will be dispensed over five years and will pay for a professor.

The center is scheduled to open in fall 2012 with a focus on research addressing urban schools.

Sprint Nextel Corp. is based in Overland Park. Sprint Foundation president and executive director Ralph Reid says the grant will help ensure that children receive a quality education while letting the company give something back to its home region.