Announcement

Earlier this week, the Chancellor’s Office announced that California State University is the recipient of a $2,211,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) and that Cal State Fullerton and 4 sister campuses have been selected to host the program for the CSU. The goal of the MMUF program is to increase opportunities for students from underrepresented populations to pursue doctoral degrees in the humanities, and, ultimately, to increase faculty diversity in these disciplines.

Under the guidance of Cal State Fullerton professor of Religious Studies, Dr. Zakyi Ibrahim and Humanities faculty mentors, four MMUF student fellows will be selected each year from among applicants in the rising junior class.  The selected Mellon Fellows will receive mentoring, specially-designed academic and internship opportunities, and significant financial support to prepare them for application and entry into PhD programs and, eventually, for successful academic careers. 

To have received this grant from the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program is significant not only for our campus but, most particularly, for the students and faculty of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.  I am excited for the opportunities this program will provide our students and faculty and the long-term impact it will have on higher education. Receiving this Mellon Mays grant, our campus joins a list of institutions of higher education that, until now, has mostly included only private colleges or research-based universities.  With this award, Mellon announces the importance of public, comprehensive universities to higher education and the significant place for our students in its future.