April 23, 2003

Contact: Sarah Ray

802-443-5794

sray@middlebury.edu

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.