Corporate & Foundation Relations | Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

A Culture of Giving

Mellon Foundation to Help Increase Alaska Native PhDs

Jordan Lewis, the first Mellon Foundation graduate fellowship recipient and UAF Chancellor Brian Rogers. Credit: UAF Photograph.

Alaska Natives constitute nearly 20 percent of the state’s population and 16 percent of UA’s student body – but represent only three percent of the university’s faculty positions, a fact that is commonly attributed to a lack of educational credentials. To increase the number of Alaska Native students earning doctoral degrees – and subsequently raise the number of Alaska Native faculty – the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation recently awarded a $700,000 grant to UAF to support students in the dissertation-writing phase of their doctoral programs.

“The need for programs like this is vital across the United States, where there is significant under-representation of indigenous peoples on the faculties of colleges and universities, and UAF is no exception,” said Bryan Brayboy, president’s professor of education at UAF and one of the primary grant authors. Brayboy added that eradicating disparities like this benefits the entire state, as educational attainment is closely related to economic and political prosperity for Native peoples.

The gift, which will be supplemented by additional fundraising efforts and matching funds from UAF, will support the Dissertation Fellowship Program for Alaska Native Scholars and Others Committed to the Advancement of Indigenous Alaskan History and Culture. Over the next five years, the program will fund up to four competitive graduate fellowships, which will include a $30,000 stipend, and funds for research, travel, tuition and fees. The grant will also support professional development opportunities, mentoring activities and salary support for the program’s faculty members.

The first fellowship was recently awarded to Jordan Lewis, a UAF student pursuing a PhD in cross-cultural community psychology. His thesis, titled “Successful Aging Through the Eyes of Alaska Natives,” examines the health and well-being of Alaska Native elders in five Bristol Bay-area villages. “With the different components to the fellowship – scholarship, travel and networking – the most exciting is the chance to network and collaborate with other fellows, and receive mentoring from professors. The chance to go to a professional conference, and get feedback on my dissertation, will also be important to get established in my field,” Lewis said.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a nonprofit corporation based in New York, was formed on June 30, 1969, through the consolidation of two existing foundations — the Avalon Foundation, which was established in 1940 by Andrew W. Mellon’s daughter, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, and the Old Dominion Foundation, which was established in 1941 by Mellon’s son, Paul Mellon. At the end of 1969, the assets of the Foundation totaled $220 million. By the end of 2007, assets totaled $6.5 billion, with annual grantmaking appropriations of approximately $286 million. The Foundation currently makes grants in six core program areas, including higher education and scholarship, scholarly communications, research in information technology, museums and art conservation, performing arts, and conservation and the environment. More information is available on their website, www.mellon.org.