PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The Leadership Alliance, a national consortium working to expand academic opportunities for underrepresented groups, has received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to expand its summer undergraduate research opportunities in the humanities and social sciences. This program will fund nearly 150 student research positions across the Alliance during the project period.
The new three-year Mellon Foundation grant will fund groups of four to six students on nine different Leadership Alliance campuses (Brown, where the Alliance is based, plus Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Tufts, the University of Virginia, the University of Chicago and Yale).
“This project will expand our efforts to provide research experience for diverse undergraduates interested in pursuing doctoral-level training in the humanities and social sciences,” said Valerie Petit Wilson, executive director of the Leadership Alliance. “This award will provide resources to nearly double the number of students placed in summer research programs in the humanities and social sciences and reach students who would not otherwise have an opportunity for this important training.”
The Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) recruits students nationwide to participate in summer research at 22 of the Alliance research institutions in all academic disciplines. The SR-EIP is a hands-on summer research experience intended to provide exposure to research and academic careers as well as to enhance graduate training decisions by talented undergraduates.
The Mellon award will provide stipends for students in the humanities and social sciences who participate in the Leadership Alliance summer program. The award will also provide support for special workshops, seminars or training in research methods to help students understand the research methodology of the humanities and social sciences.
“The participating research sites have made the commitment to host a cohort of students each summer,” said Medeva Ghee, associate director of the Leadership Alliance and leader of the Mellon project. “By making this commitment, the institutions will assist in building a community of scholars in the humanities and social sciences within the Leadership Alliance.”
The Leadership Alliance is a national academic consortium comprising 33 research, teaching, and minority-serving institutions of higher education. The Alliance directly addresses the relatively low participation of underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities as educators, academic leaders and decision-makers. The Alliance expands opportunities for underrepresented students from any college or university in the country and increase the participation of those students in the academic enterprise. It has developed an organized program of research, networking and mentorship at critical transition points along the academic training pathway, preparing young scholars from underrepresented and underserved populations for graduate training and professional apprenticeships.
During the last 15 years, undergraduates supported by the Alliance have earned advanced degrees at twice the national average. The Leadership Alliance recently celebrated the 100th doctoral degree earned by students it supported. The next 100 doctoral scholars will earn their degrees within the next three to five years.
Leadership Alliance member institutions include Brooklyn College, Brown University, Chaminade University of Honolulu, Claflin University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Delaware State University, Dillard University, Harvard University, Howard University, Hunter College, Johns Hopkins University, Montana State University-Bozeman, Morehouse College, Morgan State University, New York University, Prairie View A&M University, Princeton University, Spelman College, Stanford University, Tougaloo College, Tufts University, University of Chicago, University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, University of Puerto Rico, University of Virginia, Vanderbilt University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Yale University.
Additional information is available at www.theleadershipalliance.org.