The Leadership Alliance has received a $1,250,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to continue supporting summer undergraduate research in the humanities and related social sciences for underrepresented students. During the five-year project period, the LAMI will support approximately 300 undergraduate student research positions across the Alliance. In collaboration with the UNCF/Mellon Programs, the Leadership Alliance Mellon Initiative (LAMI) will enhance the mentoring of Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellows and create more deliberate institutional partnerships between UNCF/Mellon institutions and Alliance research institutions.

According to Medeva Ghee, executive director of the Leadership Alliance, “The renewed support of the Leadership Alliance Mellon Initiative will enhance efforts to mentor diverse students motivated to pursue a doctoral degree in the humanities and related social sciences.  These sustained efforts will contribute to developing a professoriate and scholarly workforce reflective of our diverse society.”

The award will provide stipends for students in the humanities and related social sciences who participate in the Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP) through 2022. The award will also provide support for special workshops, seminars or training in key research methods in the humanities and social sciences. The grant will bridge the LAMI to permanent funding by the Leadership Alliance. This support will ensure the sustainability and integration of these activities at the institutional level.

The LAMI is open to undergraduate students from any institution in the country. Funding will support cohorts of four to six students at the following Leadership Alliance research sites: Brown University, where the Alliance Executive Office is based, Columbia University, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, New York University, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, University of Virginia, and Yale University.

The Leadership Alliance is a national academic consortium comprising 36 research, teaching, and minority-serving institutions of higher education and private industry. For more than two decades, the Alliance has identified, trained and mentored more than 3,000 undergraduates and more than 400 alumni have completed a doctoral degree, including 375 Ph.D. and 40 M.D.-Ph.D. degrees. With 54% of Doctoral Scholars pursuing careers in higher education, 58% of which are in tenure track positions, the value of the consortium to promoting diversity in academia and the research workforce is clear.