Olin College

Mellon Foundation Awards Wellesley College Grant to Advance Three-College Collaboration Following the Partnership’s Successful Launch

Gift Provides Pilot Funding for Babson-Olin-Wellesley’s First Inter-campus Certificate Program in Sustainability and Mellon Presidential Innovation Project Fund

Wellesley College has received a $55,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to advance the Three-College Collaboration among Wellesley, Babson College, and the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. The cross-institutional grant follows on the heels of a Mellon Foundation award given last spring to support foreign languages, literature, and culture at Wellesley.

"We are grateful to the Mellon Foundation's multifaceted support which enables Wellesley and our partner institutions to build on the work we have begun," said H. Kim Bottomly, president of Wellesley College. "Through new programming, the Three-College Collaboration provides students with a unique and powerful interdisciplinary approach to learning that is essential for the 21st Century."

The grant supports the launch of the Collaboration's first major joint curricular effort: a new academic program offering courses related to human impact on the environment across the liberal arts and sciences, business, and engineering. Offered on all three campuses, the courses provide an opportunity for students to earn credit toward a certificate in sustainability—a field of growing importance that requires an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to solving complex, global problems.

The grant also provides pilot funding for the Mellon Presidential Innovation Project Fund, established by the presidents of the three colleges: Babson President Leonard H. Schlesinger, Olin President Richard K. Miller, and Wellesley President H. Kim Bottomly. Starting this September, students, faculty, and staff are invited to apply for grants of up to $10,000 for cross-campus innovation projects. Community-building presentations, workshops, and events will also receive support from the Mellon gift.

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