The University of Toronto has received $1.2 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York to support post-doctoral fellows in the humanities and related social sciences.
“I think it’s a great thing,” said Ranjini Ghosh, president of the Arts & Sciences Students’ Union. “There is a growing concern for our humanities and social sciences on campus.”
“Most donations are made to the science-oriented fields of study, like the medicine faculties. The humanities and the social sciences are often overlooked,” he added.
The Mellon grant will make it possible for U of T to award two-year post-doctoral fellowships of approximately $50,000 per year to 12 individuals who have completed their post-doctoral studies. The money will help them pursue their research and develop their teaching skills.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation awards grants on a selective basis to institutions in higher education, cultural affairs and the performing arts, in population, conservation and the environment and in public affairs with a goal of furthering public welfare. The foundation has funded fellowships at such institutions as Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia.
Recipients of the fellowships will be selected from an international pool of recent Ph.Ds. The first fellowships will be awarded in 2003.
The Mellon Foundation has previously supported humanities projects at U of T such as the Dictionary of Old English, The Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, the Records of Early English Drama and the Centre for Russian and East European Studies.
“They are going to teach and pursue their research here at the U of T,” said Wendy Ralph, vice-dean academic in the faculty of Arts and Science. “They are going to be choosing academic careers and going on to be tomorrow’s professors, so what this gift is going to do is provide them with a very, very solid start.”
