Mellon grants U. $5.4 million for graduate studies

The Andrew Mellon Foundation recently gave the University $600,000 as the first part of a five-year, $5.4 million grant to help speed doctoral candidates through the pipeline to becoming professors. The University plans to use the funds for graduate fellowships and stipends in the Classical Studies, English, History, Music, and Romance Languages departments. But the specific use of the funds is in dispute, with nearly all department chairs directly contradicting School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean of Graduate Studies Donald Fitts yesterday. The department chairs' plans for the funds also do not follow several of the stipulations set by the Foundation. Several University graduate chairs say the grant will be used for incoming students and will be a five-year fellowship. Yet the foundation's announcement stated, "no funds will be available to students in their first year." Fitts, however, disputed assertions that the grant would not be used as the foundation intended last night, saying most of the money will be used for 10-month fellowships of $10,000, given to students in the last year of their dissertation. "The bulk of the grant will be used for terminal-year dissertation fellowships," Fitts said. Fitts also said a smaller amount of money would be used for $2000 summer stipends, to be given to an undetermined number of students who have completed their second year of graduate school. This would allow them to use the summer to work on dissertation proposals -- time that in the past has not been utilized by many graduate students. Fitts said the University will give out as many fellowships as possible with the $600,000, but said he did not know how many each department would receive. But other University administrators say the grant will be used differently. History Graduate Chairperson Walter Licht said yesterday the grant will be used in part to pay for Benjamin Franklin Fellowships. According to Licht, these fellowships were offered to eight incoming graduate students in the History Department. Licht said the fellowship will cover full tuition and a $12,000 stipend for five years. But this plan contradicts the foundation's requirements. The foundation's announcement stated, "no individual will be eligible for more than a year, a term, and a summer of support in the course of a graduate career." Licht said that by giving incoming students the fellowship, it will be easier for students to obtain their doctorate in five years, which has taken an average of eight years in the past. According to Licht, students will not have to teach their first year and will be able to concentrate solely on their studies, ultimately starting their dissertation in the third year instead of the fifth. "We love them [graduate students], but there comes a time when we have to cut the umbilical cord," said Licht. Licht also said every History graduate student who has completed their second year will be eligible to attend the summer workshop with the $2000 stipend. Music Department Graduate Chairperson Jeffrey Kallberg also said the money would be given to some entering students at a rate of $1000 a month for 12 months. Kallberg said the prospective students he chose to nominate for the fellowships were the best in the applicant pool. "This year there were four students who were the cream of the crop," said Kallberg. "I talked to Don Fitts and he said 'Go ahead and make offers to those four.' " According to Kallberg, the fellowship is guaranteed for the students as long as they do well academically. Kallberg also said students in their last year of writing their dissertation would be funded, although he was not sure how much money they would receive. The foundation awarded the grant to the University and eight other schools to reduce the number of students dropping out of graduate school and to lower the number of years the average student spends working towards a doctorate. According to the announcement released by the Mellon Foundation early last week, the University was chosen because it attracted a high number of Mellon Graduate Fellowships recipients in past years. Other department heads also detailed their plans for use of the monies. English Department Graduate Chairperson Maureen Quilligan said there will be nine five-year graduate fellowships in the English department, which will include full tuition and a $12,000 stipend. Quilligan also said there will be 11 to 13 $10,000, 10-month fellowships to students in their final year. Romance Languages Department Graduate Chairperson Lance Donaldson-Evans said eight five-year fellowships of above $10,000 have been offered to prospective students, along with full tuition. According to Fitts, a data base of University graduate students over the past 18 years was compiled to help choose where the money would be used most effectively. Fitts said the five departments have undergone revisions over the past few years to make obtaining a doctoral degree in five years more feasible. The University has has had time to experiment with funds from the foundation before. Last summer the University received a $50,000 pilot grant from Mellon. Most of the pilot money was given to the History Department to implement a summer workshop where students could work on their dissertation proposals. Licht said the program, which gave five students $2000 for the summer, was a huge success. "We had five students who knew what their dissertation topic would be and had even done some research," said Licht. All Ivy League schools except Brown University and Dartmouth College received a $5.4 million grant from Mellon. The other three schools involved in the program are the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan.

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