Bates receives grant to help college's diversity effort

Courtesy / Phyllis Graber Jensen, Bates College) Evelynn Hammonds, who teaches the history of science and African and African American studies at Harvard University, delivers the opening address at the Creating Connections Consortium Summit at Bates College in 2015. The consortium has received a $5.5 million grant the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance diversity in higher education.

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By Staff

Bates College is part of a consortium that received $5.5 million to advance diversity in higher education.

The grant, from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will be used as part of the Creating Connections Consortium.

Bates is one of the lead institutions, along with Middlebury College, Connecticut College and Williams College, as well as partner research four partner research universities — the University of California at Berkeley, Columbia, the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago.

“Just a few years into our association with C3, we're seeing tangible benefits from this innovative program,” said Bates President Clayton Spencer. “Bates students from underrepresented groups have gotten a taste of graduate-level academics thanks to C3 fellowships. The consortium has introduced us to bright young teacher-scholars from diverse backgrounds whose experiences and perspectives make our faculty even more creative … We are convinced at Bates of the formative value of diversity at every level, and our participation in C3 is a powerful tool for advancing diversity."

Bates, which is in Lewiston, has 2,000 students and offers a range of liberal arts and sciences studies.

Reaching students and faculty from backgrounds underrepresented on U.S. campuses, C3 bases its work on strengthening ties between small liberal arts colleges like Bates and the partner universities, which are so-called Research I schools, according to a press release from Bates. This benefits both students from the small schools who are considering university postgraduate programs, and university postdocs drawn to teaching in the liberal arts environment.

Since 2014, nine Bates students have received C3 fellowships, supporting academic experiences at the partner universities. Bates became a C3 lead institution in 2015.

The consortium was launched in 2012 with funding from the Mellon Foundation. The new grant, which began Oct. 1 and supports the program through 2022, will bring the foundation's commitment to the program to $10.9 million over a decade.