Foundation donates $750k to SAS

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently awarded a $750,000 grant to be given over the next six years to the School of Arts and Science's initiative to encourage Cross-Cultural Contact scholarship, the study of what happens when different cultures collide and coalesce.

The grant will support a new Cross-Cultural Contact program that will promote the collaboration between Penn and the University of Pennsylvania Press on several projects. The program will support the publication of a new human-rights journal and short books based on interesting Cross-Cultural Contacts seminars.

College of Arts and Science Dean Rebecca Bushnell emphasized the potential of allowing professors to widely distribute the material they teach in their seminars on Cross-Cultural Contacts by writing short books.

She explained that the books can "extend the impact of a Penn education," because they will give students an alternative way of understanding the topic if they are unable to take the course.

In particular, the program will focus on the Middle East and will examine the movement of people from Africa, Asia and Latin America to the United States, said Undergraduate Dean of Arts and Science Dennis Deturck.

By collaborating on the publication of the short books and the new human-rights journal, director of Penn Press Eric Halpern explained that Penn Press will be able to enhance the "strong, ongoing working relations with many Penn departments" that already exist.

In addition, the new program will create a conference fund and a Cross-Cultural Contacts Distinguished Lecture Series which will bring high-profile lecturers to Penn.

"The lectures will enrich the intellectual landscape and increase global awareness and bridge global scholarship," Bushnell said.

The new Cross-Cultural Contact program is expected to engage professors and students across campus.

The program will involve "vertical integration where professors, graduate students, undergraduate students, and postdoctoral students will be working together [on journals and book series]," DeTurck said.

Bushnell said she is optimistic about the program and expects it to "create a buzz in [Cross-cultural Contacts] scholarship."

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