The Mellon Foundation’s Higher Learning program employs three interconnected strategies to guide its grantmaking, all aimed at fostering a more equitable and enriched landscape for humanities education. These strategies focus on broadening access, elevating knowledge, and accelerating demographic transformation within higher learning institutions.
Expanding Equitable Access to Humanities in Higher Learning
A core tenet of Mellon’s approach is to democratize access to liberal arts education. This commitment extends to ensuring that diverse populations have opportunities to engage with humanities disciplines and to perceive them as valuable pathways. Beyond merely opening doors, the Foundation actively cultivates an environment where all postsecondary students, irrespective of their academic level—from associate to graduate degrees—recognize the humanities as a fulfilling and relevant pursuit. To this end, Mellon supports a spectrum of initiatives, including specialized programs like higher education in prisons, alongside broader curricular and co-curricular programs. These initiatives are designed to showcase the practical application of humanities expertise in diverse professional fields and societal contexts beyond traditional academic settings. By highlighting the versatility and real-world relevance of humanities studies, Mellon aims to inspire wider participation and demonstrate the tangible benefits of this field of knowledge for a greater segment of society.
Elevating Knowledge for a More Complete and Equitable Understanding
Mellon’s second strategic pillar centers on the critical role of knowledge production in shaping a more just and equitable world. The Foundation champions humanities scholarship by investing in fellowships, seminars, curricular innovation, and regranting programs. These initiatives are specifically designed to nurture groundbreaking work across both established and emerging fields within the humanities. A key priority is to amplify voices and perspectives that have historically been marginalized or underrepresented within conventional academic discourse. By supporting scholarship that challenges existing paradigms and incorporates diverse viewpoints, Mellon seeks to foster a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the human experience. This, in turn, lays a stronger intellectual foundation for building a more socially just future. The achievements of alumni from Mellon’s prestigious Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program serve as a powerful illustration of the kind of impactful and transformative scholarship the Foundation is committed to promoting across all domains of humanities inquiry.
Accelerating Demographic Transformation in Academia
The third guiding strategy addresses the critical need for demographic transformation within US academic institutions. Mellon is dedicated to fostering a professoriate that mirrors the diversity of the broader US population. This commitment extends beyond mere representation to actively enriching humanities scholarship and leadership with a wide array of lived experiences and perspectives. To achieve this, Mellon supports pipeline programs aimed at diversifying the pool of future humanities faculty. Furthermore, the Foundation invests in professional development and mentorship initiatives designed to support established humanities professors from underrepresented backgrounds. These programs aim to cultivate a more inclusive and multivocal academic environment, ensuring that humanities expertise at all levels of academic leadership is enriched by a broader spectrum of voices and perspectives. By fostering a more diverse and inclusive academic landscape, Mellon seeks to strengthen the humanities and ensure its continued relevance and impact in an increasingly diverse world.
Application Information for Higher Learning Grants
Mellon’s Higher Learning program extends grants to institutions and organizations that are actively engaged in advancing the humanities. It is important to note that Mellon does not provide grants directly to individuals. However, the Foundation does support regranting programs that ultimately benefit individual scholars and researchers. The grantmaking process at Mellon is invitation-based, meaning that grants are typically awarded to institutions with whom Mellon staff have already established a dialogue and explored potential collaborations. While unsolicited proposals are not considered, Mellon encourages inquiries from US-based colleges, universities, and organizations operating within the higher education sector, particularly those institutions that have not previously received Mellon Foundation support. This outreach reflects Mellon’s ongoing commitment to expanding its network of partners and fostering innovation across the landscape of higher learning in the humanities.
