The City University of New York has received $5 million from the Mellon Foundation to expand CUNY’s innovative Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative.
The project was created with support from the foundation to drive change across CUNY's 25 campuses and advance racial and social justice initiatives.
Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez
“CUNY is grateful to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s continued support for our efforts to reimagine Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies,” said Chancellor Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “Amid a nationwide effort to undermine the very concept of diversity and inclusion, the new graduate program in Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies (BRES) will provide a much-needed resource to drive social change, open new avenues of opportunity for our students, and sustain CUNY’s mission to uplift New York’s most underserved communities.”
CUNY was the largest recipient of 95 grantees awarded more than $18 million by Mellon for race, ethnic, gender and sexuality studies.
“Affirming Multivocal Humanities is an initiative that champions the insightful scholarship and teaching taking place in these disciplines — those that are too often undervalued and even undermined in American society today,” said Mellon Foundation President Dr. 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.”
