The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York has renewed a grant to Yale that provides funds for graduate studies leading to the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The University will receive approximately $670,000 in 1996-97 and will provide matching funds for a portion of the Mellon Foundation support.
The Mellon Graduate Fellowship Program at Yale was established in 1991 to improve the quality of the graduate school experience for students while expediting degree completion and reducing attrition rates among doctoral candidates. Since its inception, the Mellon Program has awarded fellowships to graduate students in five humanities and social science departments: anthropology, English, history, music and history of art
According to President Richard C. Levin, the Mellon Program's dissertation-year fellowships for graduate students in the targeted departments have reduced the need for students to work at outside jobs and increased the amount of time they can devote to scholarly preparation. In addition, graduate students at earlier stages of the doctoral program received Mellon Foundation support for essential pre-dissertation travel and research.
"Since the Mellon Program was initiated, our graduate students and the Graduate School itself have benefited a great deal -- not only financially but also from improved student morale, decreased attrition rates, and improved time-to-degree," said President Levin. "We are convinced that the renewal of the Mellon Program will help the Graduate School to consolidate these gains."
According to Graduate School Dean Thomas Appelquist, most students receiving Mellon Fellowship support in the first phase of their doctoral study are now completing pre-dissertation requirements in three years or less. "We also are beginning to see a positive trend in decreasing time-to-degree and time-to-submission in the 'Mellon departments,'" he adds.
In thanking the Mellon Foundation for its renewed support, President Levin noted additional long-term benefits from the program. "Yale has used its own institutional revenues to extend the Mellon idea of dissertation-year fellowships throughout the humanities and social sciences. In this sense the Mellon grants have been a catalyst for change within the Graduate School."
Provost Alison F. Richard added, "The Mellon Foundation's 1996 grant will provide critical funds to improve our graduate programs and help solidify our plans to ensure the excellence of a graduate education at Yale." She pointed to additional gains during the first five years of the Mellon program, including the implementation of seminars for graduate students on discipline-related issues in teaching.
Previous Mellon Foundation grants have assisted the minority undergraduate fellowship program, the program to strengthen doctoral training in Latin American history, and the Consortium for Language Teaching and Learning.