Department of Ethnic Studies receives CSU’s first Mellon grant

Originally posted on CSU Source. Read it here.

By Sarah Dills

Published May 8, 2024

The Mellon Foundation recently awarded CSU’s Department of Ethnic Studies a $100,000 grant, making it CSU’s first Mellon grant recipient. This grant will be used to support the department’s Distinguished Lecture Series in Race, Gender, and Ethnic Studies. The series, which will resume in the fall of 2024, will bring important scholars to CSU for public talks, reading groups, and meetings. Students, faculty and CSU community members will have opportunities to converse with top scholars in the field who frame the conversation on race, gender, and ethnic studies.

Sushmita Chatterjee, professor and department chair for Ethnic Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies and the principal investigator for this grant, was overjoyed when she found out the results of her proposal.

“It was extremely affirming to see the support from our nation’s top funding agency in the humanities and arts,” said Chatterjee. “As a new-ish faculty member and administrator at CSU, I was thrilled beyond measure. On a micro level, my department will be collaboratively hosting many inspiring scholars in the field, which is an invaluable mentoring, networking, and scholarship opportunity. And on a macro level, it will enable a broader audience to realize the significance of the work done in race, gender and ethnic studies.”

Mellon, the nation’s largest funder of the arts, culture and humanities, awarded more than $18 million to 95 public college and university programs across 66 institutions to advance the study of race, ethnicity, gender or sexuality through its ‘Affirming Multivocal Humanities’ initiative. The initiative states that “the study of race, gender, and sexuality is crucial to this objective, particularly at this pivotal moment in the history of the United States.”

In the words of Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander, “We are proud to support colleges and universities in the United States that are advancing deep research and curricular engagement with the stories and histories of our country’s vast diversity and the modes of inquiry that race, gender, and ethnic studies explore and expand.”

In addition to enhancing the lecture series, the Department of Ethnic Studies will use the grant to support many new possibilities, such as networking sessions for scholars in the disciplines of Ethnic Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies, book reading groups, and public outreach in Colorado and beyond. By providing opportunities to engage with innovative research and build a deeper understanding of the disciplines, the Department hopes to encourage students, faculty and the community to engage deeply in the study of race, gender and ethnic studies in order to build equitable futures.

“We have to thank Catherine Kane who helped with all the grant logistics and Ann Claycomb for brainstorming about the grant,” said Chatterjee.

The grant will go into effect for the 2024-2025 academic year and the details of guest speakers and events will be announced in the fall. Chatterjee welcomes any questions to be directed to her email, sushmita.chatterjee@colostate.edu.

Note: As of May 3, the Board of Governors approved the department’s name change. It will now be the Department of Race, Gender, and Ethnic Studies.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.