Mellon Foundation Grants Over $1 Million in Funds For the Core Curriculum

The University late last week won a $1.25-million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to aid in the development of the Core Curriculum.

President Bok said yesterday he received a letter last week from the Mellon Foundation confirming the grant, but he has not announced the offer because he has yet to officially accept it. Bok added he would accept the grant in writing later this week.

The foundation has not yet received a reply from Harvard on the grant, Margaret McKenna, an administrative assistant at the foundation, said yesterday.

First Fruits

The Mellon Foundation is the first organization to provide the University with a grant exclusively for the Core Curriculum, Kaufmann said.

The bulk of the grant will go toward enlarging the junior faculty, primarily in the humanities, to meet the special needs of the Core Curriculum, Robert E. Kaufmann, associate dean for finances, said yesterday.

Kaufmann said the University specifically asked for funds to hire junior faculty in the humanities because the Mellon Foqndation has traditionally supported instruction and research in humanities fields. "We knew they had a long-standing interest in the humanities, so we tailored our proposal to fit their concerns," he added

The University will use the funds over the next six to seven years to cover the long-term cost of hiring additional junior faculty who will help teach Core courses.

A smaller part of the grant is earmarked for course development costs in the Core program, Kaufmann added.

Dean Rosovsky first approached the foundation last November to request funds, Kaufmann said. Rosovsky was not available for comment yesterday.

The administration has discussed possible funding for the Core with other foundations, but no other organizations have proposed grants so far, Kaufmann said.

He added that they had not yet applied for funds to increase faculty appointments in the sciences.

The Mellon Foundation recently granted funds to several other universities to support their general education programs. Northwestern, Syracuse and Johns Hopkins Universities all received large grants from the foundation last year.

The foundation two years ago granted over $1 million to start the Mellon Fellows program at Harvard. The program brings junior faculty from other universities to Harvard for one year to do research.

The University's $250 million capital fund drive will allocate approximately $24 million for the Core.