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St. Olaf awarded $800,000 faculty grant

By David Gonnerman '90
October 10, 2008

St. Olaf has announced the receipt of an $800,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will enable the college to hire faculty members in advance of scheduled faculty retirements. The grant will fund salaries and benefits for five new tenure-track faculty members.

"The grant comes at an important time for St. Olaf," says President David R. Anderson '74. During the next decade, he explains, one-third of St. Olaf faculty members will reach normal retirement age, and faculty recruitment in coming years will occur in an increasingly competitive market.

By enabling the college to hire five new faculty, the generation-bridging grant will ensure both continuity and change in the transition to a new generation of teacher-scholars. "The new colleagues we will hire as a result of this grant will add breadth to the college's academic offerings and provide an opportunity to increase the diversity of our faculty," Anderson says. As the new faculty grow in their roles, they will provide St. Olaf with academic leadership for many years to come.

In addition to new perspectives in the classroom, the grant will benefit students through smaller class sections and new courses.

"The Mellon Foundation has long strengthened and sustained America's leading liberal arts colleges through a broad range of visionary programs," Anderson says. "St. Olaf is most grateful for this expression of their confidence and support." St. Olaf previously has received Mellon grants for the Kierkegaard Library endowment and to support institutional planning by President Anderson. Since 2004 the St. Olaf and Carleton libraries have used Mellon grants to merge their collections into the online Bridge catalog.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.