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Release: May 15, 1995
Contact: Jacquelyn Savani (609/258-5729)


Mellon Foundation Awards
Nearly $3 Million to Support
Educational Programs

Princeton, N.J.--The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded
nearly $3 million in grants to support educational programs at
Princeton University. The generous series of grants, announced by
the University, will enhance programs in four distinct areas of
research and scholarship.

The University's Art Museum received a three-year $193,000 award
to enhance the educational function of the museum's collections
and programs. With support from the grant, the museum will
concentrate on using its collections more actively in teaching and
on providing students more direct contact with original works of
art.

The award will fund three specific initiatives: a visiting scholar
to offer a full year's course of study utilizing the Museum's
collection of African art; graduate internships to give doctoral
candidates the opportunity to work in the museum, either on short-
term curatorial projects or long-term development of exhibitions;
and internships for post-undergraduates to allow newly graduated
students similar opportunities to become involved in nine-to-12
month curatorial projects involving exhibitions, extended
research, or preparation of didactic materials on the permanent
collection.

The University's Near Eastern Studies Department received two
grants totaling $950,000 to support and expand a series of
programs first established with Mellon funds in 1989. A three-
year bridge grant of $450,000 will sustain the department's
language training programs in Arabic, Turkish and Persian and
provide funds for curriculum development, junior faculty travel
and research, summer language training for students, and an
interdisciplinary seminar to bring Princeton students and faculty
together with outside specialists to investigate contemporary
issues in Near Eastern Studies. A $500,000 endowment challenge
grant, together with $1,000,000 to be raised in matching funds,
will provide permanent support for two senior lectureships, one in
Arabic and another in Turkish.

In addition to these academic initiatives, another grant from the
foundation supports a new project at Princeton's Survey Research
Center. The center received $845,000 to conduct a two-year
research project examining the post-college educational,
occupational, and personal histories of individuals from the early
1950s and the late 1970s from some 20 selective colleges and
universities. The purpose of the study is to relate academic
experience with success and other experiences later in life.

Finally, Princeton's Graduate School received $650,000 for the
Mellon Doctoral Project, a program to improve the quality and
effectiveness of graduate education, and to reduce attrition rates
and the time needed to earn a Ph.D. in selected humanities and
social science departments. This represents a fifth year of
renewal for this project, which began in 1991. The project has
already produced positive results. Participating departments have
restructured their graduate programs to give students a clearer
understanding of degree requirements; students have been assisted
financially to complete difficult phases of their education (e.g.,
language exams, generals, and the prospectus and dissertation
completion) in a more timely manner; and departments have been
sensitized to the obstacles students encounter in completing their
degrees. The Graduate School expects to compete successfully for
a five-year renewal of this important project.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, headquartered in New York City,
was established in 1969. It makes grants to institutions of
higher education; cultural affairs and the performing arts; and
population research and in the four areas of conservation, natural
resources, the environment, and public affairs.

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