Grant will go to last-year PhD students

The University will use the Andrew Mellon Foundation Grant for terminal-year dissertation students and summer grants, School of Arts and Sciences Associate Dean Donald Fitts said yesterday. Although there was some confusion on the part of graduate department chairpeople yesterday, Fitts emphasized that the grant will be used according to the foundation's guideline. "I pay the bills, so obviously I know where every penny is going," said Fitts. Mellon's guidelines, which stated in part that "no funds will be available to students in their first year," were released early last week, but department chairpeople said this week they planned to use the money for first-year students. But Fitts said the $600,000 the University received this year as the first part of a five year grant will only be given to students entering the final year of writing their dissertation. These students will receive a 10-month stipend of $10,000. Students are to be first nominated from their home departments, which include the Classical Studies, English, History, Music, and Romance Languages departments. The nominations will be then sent to a faculty committee consisting of independent faculty from each department. Finally, the nominees are approved by Fitts. According to Fitts, there will be 30 to 35 graduate students receiving the year-long fellowship in the fall. The purpose of the foundation's grant is to reduce student attrition and to lower the number of years graduate students spend in completing their doctorate. Students who have completed their second year of graduate school in one of the five departments are also eligible for a $2000 stipend. The stipend is given so students can spend the summer working on their dissertation proposal, instead of working to support themselves. Fitts said roughly 40 students will receive the summer stipend this year. The grant will also affect several incoming students who have been offered Benjamin Franklin Fellowships. According to Fitts, the fellowship, which includes a $12,000 stipend and paid tuition, is a medley of different resources. "It is a five-year offer, which is a combination of fellowships and teaching assistant fellowships, on the condition that they [the selected students] remain in good academic standing," Fitts said. However, money from the grant will only be used towards the termination year of the fellowship and the summer after the students' second year, Fitts said. Because the grant is issued on a yearly basis, the money has not been formally issued to the University yet. But the foundation said in a statement that Mellon officials "expect to maintain the same general level of commitment to the universities over the subsequent four years."

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