Two Claremont Colleges, Harvey Mudd and Scripps, are among the eight colleges and universities that will share in a four-year, $2.5 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support faculty career enhancement. The grant will be used to address concerns about time, intellectual growth and professional development among faculty members at Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, DePauw University (Greencastle, Indiana), Denison University (Granville, Ohio), Furman University (Greenville, South Carolina), Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vermont), Rhodes College (Memphis, Tennessee), and Vassar College (Poughkeepsie, New York). DePauw University will administer the cluster grant. The Mellon Foundation has also made a separate $650,000 grant to each of the four pairs of relatively nearby colleges in the cluster to support similar, but more local, programs to serve these objectives. This is the third cluster to receive a grant under the Mellon Foundation’s faculty career enhancement awards program.
“These eight, national liberal arts colleges, and many other institutions of higher learning across the nation, share a concern, one that this generous grant from The Andrew J. Mellon Foundation addresses and, I’m confident, will help ameliorate,” says F. Sheldon Wettack, vice president and dean of the faculty at Harvey Mudd. “The demands on faculty members at liberal arts colleges and universities are greater than they’ve ever been – they develop new courses, revise current courses and teach more interactively; they meet frequently with students before and after class; they engage in scholarly and creative work and other professional activities; and they must continue to increase their understanding of their disciplines and the latest pedagogical strategies.”
Michael D. Lamkin, vice president and dean of faculty at Scripps, pointed out that “finding the time to fulfill those many obligations is a difficult, and sometimes impossible, task. This grant will allow Scripps and Harvey Mudd and their six partners to creatively address these needs and will significantly expand the range of opportunities for faculty career enhancement.”
Three categories have been developed for possible funding under the grant, including:
- A career enhancement fund to be administered by the chief academic officer at each campus for purposes not covered by current faculty development programs. Projects could include visits to a research colleague or mentor, visits by a mentor to campus, and opportunities to give faculty members time for continuing professional education.
- Awards for projects of benefit to particular faculty members, with proposals to be adjudicated by a committee of deans and faculty from the eight colleges. Ideas for possible proposals include support for unusual sabbaticals and expenses associated with sabbaticals, collaborations with other scholars, seminars or courses for faculty members which are offered by visitors or local faculty members, and replacements for those developing innovative new courses or programs.
- Funding for inter-institutional initiatives, such as a group of faculty members from the cluster schools traveling together to an international site of mutual professional interest, an inter-institutional faculty seminar convening at various of the eight campuses or other sites around the country, or inter-institutional groups convening to share in developing or assessing new interdisciplinary programs. Proposals for these projects would also be reviewed by the committee of deans and faculty members from the eight schools.
“This award will provide opportunities for our already very accomplished faculty members to develop and refine their teaching techniques and to increase their opportunities to engage in the intellectual community of Harvey Mudd and Scripps, the six other campuses, and the world at large,” Dr. Wettack says. “Faculty members select and remain in careers at liberal arts colleges because of the rewards of working with students and the opportunities for continued growth and development in conjunction with other faculty members. Faculty members view such continuing growth and development as the very lifeblood of their professional lives and careers, and it is essential for them to sustain their effectiveness and energy in their classes. This grant gives us a significant opportunity that will further enhance the careers of our faculty members and the quality of teaching and learning at Harvey Mudd and Scripps Colleges. We feel very fortunate to be a part of this Mellon Foundation effort.”
Harvey Mudd College is the liberal arts coeducational institution of engineering, science, and mathematics that also places strong emphasis on humanities and the social sciences. The college’s aim is to graduate engineers and scientists sensitive to the impact of their work on society. HMC ranks among the nation’s leading schools in percentage of graduates who earn Ph.D. degrees. It is the pioneer of the internationally known Clinic Program, established in 1963.