Mellon Foundation Gives $1.6 Million For Humanities Fellowships Program

The Mellon Foundation last week awarded a grant of $1.650,000 to Harvard University for a five year continuation of the Mellon Faculty Fellowship Program, a major Harvard program to encourage young scholars working in the humanities.

The Foundation has offered cash stipends for the past seven years to many of the most promising young humanists to help them "in a critical point in their careers. "The National Fellowship Program invites the stipend winners from around the nation to work on their own scholarship at Harvard for a year.

The Mellon Fellowship began the Program in 1975 with a $1,400,000 grant to the University. Since then, 90 individual Fellowships have been awarded, growing from five in 1976 to 16 last year. About 200 candidates apply each year from colleges and universities across the country.

Award winners are free to work on their own scholarship during the one year period. During and following their year at Harvard. Mellon Fellows have published books, articles, and reviews, and have presented papers at conferences both in this country and abroad The majority of the Fellows have received tenure of tennis track appointments after leaving the University.

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Richard M. Hunt, director of the Mellon Program, said yesterday. "The interests of the national academic community have been well served" by the special opportunities provided by the Mellon grants which enable young scholars "to demonstrate their talents before competing for a declining number of tenured positions. "Because of the tightening job market in academics, "it is now harder for scholars to complete the scholastic work they've been capable of," he added.