April 23, 2003

Posted: April 23, 2003

MIDDLEBURY, VT - Middlebury College is one of 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. The other institutions sharing in the grant are DePauw University, Denison University, Furman University, Harvey Mudd College, Rhodes College, Scripps College and Vassar College.

“We are very fortunate to have developed a rich array of faculty development programs over the past decade at Middlebury. At the same time, our faculty colleagues face new pressures and challenges that this Mellon supported grant will help us address. I am hopeful that many colleagues will take the initiative to seek funding from this grant as the specific programs are defined and communicated across the eight institutions,” said Ron Liebowitz, Middlebury College executive vice president and provost.

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. Funding could cover 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 representatives from the eight colleges. Projects in this category might seek $10,000 to $25,000. A total of 8 to 12 grants will be made annually, and several proposals would be nominated by each campus. Areas for possible funding include extensions of support to permit faculty members to take year-long sabbaticals, special sabbatical supplementary expenses, pre-doctoral and post-doctoral collaborators, seminars or courses for faculty members offered by visitors or local faculty members, and replacements for those developing new courses or participating in team-taught courses.
• 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 will submitted to a review committee of deans and faculty members from the eight schools.