University Of Rochester Awarded $3M Mellon Foundation Grant

The University of Rochester has been awarded a $3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation.

The Mellon Foundation has granted $3 million to the University of Rochester as part of the school’s initiative to support more tenure-track Black faculty members in its Department of Black Studies, according to the university’s website.

“I feel very strongly that a university must strive to be great and must strive to be good,” said Provost David Figlio in a press release. “The Mellon grant ensures that the Department of Black Studies will be an extraordinary example of that philosophy, especially as we grow the department in alignment with the core beliefs that inform the University’s new Boundless Possibility strategic plan.”

The award is from the Mellon Foundation’s Higher Learning program.

In Nov. 2022, the university established the Department of Black Studies in Arts, Sciences & Engineering. With its inauguration, the department will now have fully committed faculty as part of its program, whereas, previously, they were incorporated from other sectors.

The University of Rochester’s efforts stem from its goal to advance interdisciplinary research studies and expand collaborative projects across fields.

“We’re building a department that houses scholars who don’t conventionally fit within traditional disciplinary modes,” said Jeffrey McCune Jr., the Frederick Douglass Professor. “Our scholars are working at the edges of the humanities and social sciences—often using literature and performance—to understand the phenomena within their fields.”

McCune has campaigned for Black studies since he arrived at the university in Sept. 2021. He is currently chair of the Faculty Programs and Departmental Initiatives at the university.

Since its implementation, the Department of Black Studies has appointed two full-time assistant professors: Jordan Ealey, Ph.D, and Phillip V. McHarris. Ealey’s scholarly work primarily centers on feminist theater and aesthetics; McHarris has explored the constructs of race, housing, policing, and social inequality. The Department aims to have 10 to 12 faculty members by the 2025–26 academic year.

“It’s about the department being a resource for advancing the lives and conditions of Black people,” said McCune.