Mount Holyoke has received a grant of $790,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support "bridge" appointments in the humanities and social sciences in anticipation of faculty retirements. The grant, part of the prestigious foundation’s 2000 Funds Program, will enable Mount Holyoke to appoint as many as five new junior or intermediate-level faculty over the next six years, permitting the College to enhance and connect areas of the curriculum that are critical to MHC’s mission.

Says President Joanne Creighton, "This grant will enable us to appoint faculty in in the humanities and social sciences, where many anticipated retirements will occur. These young scholars will provide continuity and new energy within critical academic departments. We will seek individuals who bring a global perspective to the curriculum, help us encourage innovative linkages across disciplines, advance the international aspects of our curriculum, and support the College’s mission of linking liberal arts education with purposeful engagement in the world."

Like many of its peers, Mount Holyoke has a heavily tenured faculty; many professors have been teaching at the College since the 1960s and 1970s. Several of the humanities and social science departments face a cluster of upcoming retirements during the next decade. The grant offers the distinct advantage of being able to stagger the replacement appointments over several years, to ensure both continuity and thoughtful incorporation of new faculty and curricular directions."

According to Creighton, the Mellon funds will enable the College to bridge not just new and existing faculty lines, but distances between fields, departments, and approaches to knowledge, in furtherance of the College’s desire to teach students to think globally and act effectively.