Union receives additional Mellon grant money

Union College and three other upstate New York institutions – Skidmore College; Hamilton College; and Colgate University – will share another $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support faculty career enhancement.

The grant will be used to continue funding initiatives begun in the 2004-05 academic year, including: assisting faculty at mid-career with their teaching and research; providing  faculty exchanges among the schools in the Mellon grant group; and a variety of workshops, lectures and a speakers bureau.

"The Mellon grant provides excellent support for our faculty members' teaching and research,'' said Therese McCarty, Dean of Faculty. "We have already benefited from faculty exchanges and collaborative workshops with the other colleges involved in the grant.  We are grateful to the Mellon foundation for providing the support for more such opportunities.''

The latest grant, which will fund programs for two years beginning in the 2006-07 academic year, follows a $600,000 grant the four schools were awarded in late 2003 by the foundation.

The monies have been used to help faculty with planning and research after they have reached tenure, typically at the start of their seventh year at a college or university. In addition, two faculty members from each of the four schools have been able to teach a course at one of the other schools, giving them exposure to new colleagues in a different academic and institutional culture.