Established in 1988 with a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Ford Scholars Program at Vassar College fosters student and faculty collaboration on research projects in the humanities and social sciences. The program encourages intensive academic mentoring relationships between faculty and undergraduate students, toward students imagining future lives in the professoriate. Faculty mentors propose and mentor projects that include significant student participation, feedback, and initiative. Students join faculty in rigorous scholarship, course preparation and teaching-related research. Over the years, the energy and dedication of students and faculty have made this a strong program, and the Ford projects receive far more student applicants than can be accommodated. Ford’s success is reflected in the many student participants who have gone on to earn advanced degrees in the humanities and social sciences as well as to contribute in a vast range of professional fields. Its impact can also be seen in the many Vassar courses whose content and structure have been transformed and strengthened by these imaginative projects.
While the original Ford Foundation grant has long been expended, the program continues thanks to the generosity of private donors. This summer, in spite of a difficult economic climate, we funded sixteen projects in Chinese and Japanese, Education, English, Environmental Studies, Geography, History, Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. We are pleased to celebrate the Ford scholars and mentors’ valued contributions and to thank the friends of Vassar whose gifts have sustained the program this year.
Katherine Hite, Director
2012 Ford Scholars Program
Frederick Ferris Thompson Professor of Political Science
Director of Latin American and Latino/a Studies
Ford Scholars Program Timeline:
| Faculty Proposals More Info |
Due: Sun., Jan. 8, 2012 |