Grinnell College continues to receive national recognition from national foundations. Grants awarded to Grinnell College during the current academic year include:

• A $500,000 four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to become part of Mellon's Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF), which encourages students, especially those in culturally underrepresented groups, to pursue college teaching careers. The Mellon program is named for Benjamin Mays, an African American who was a mentor to M.L. King Jr. and later became president of Morehouse College in Atlanta. The MMUF program is in its 21st year and has supported more than 3,000 fellows, including Assistant Professor of English at Grinnell Shanna Benjamin, who will be one of the program's co-directors here. The other is Elena Bernal '94, Vice President for Diversity and Achievement. The fellows, selected from among second-year students by an application process, will receive mentoring from current faculty, funding for conference attendance, loan repayment support for graduate school, and other resources that will connect them to a national network of future college professors.
  
• A $250,000 Presidential Leadership grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of the college's campus plan and strategic planning process. The Mellon presidential discretionary grant will help Grinnell conduct a needs analysis for a new campus library and for interdisciplinary teaching and learning spaces in the humanities and social studies departments. The grant recognizes "the 11 years of effective leadership by President Russell K. Osgood."
  
• A $240,000 Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant to Professor of Psychology David Lopatto for continuation of his work on undergraduate research and "research-like" experiences, based on the Student Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) and Classroom Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) surveys, both of which are conducted with the participation of a growing number of colleges and universities nationwide.