Furman University Receives $850,000 Grant from Mellon Foundation

Grant will support sustainability and environmental education initiatives at the university

GREENVILLE, SC – October 15, 2008 – The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Furman University an $850,000 grant in support of the school’s sustainability and environmental education initiatives.

Among other things, the grant will assist the faculty in developing new courses and redesigning existing courses related to the environment.  As part of the grant proposal, Furman has named Angela Halfacre to the new position of Director of Sustainability and Environmental Education. Halfacre will oversee the implementation of the courses into the curriculum and coordinate the numerous efforts on campus related to sustainability and education.

We are committed to making sustainability a core feature of our curriculum and operations, and this generous grant from the Mellon Foundation will provide great support for that strategic emphasis, said Furman president David E. Shi.  It is important that we educate and enable our students to be knowledgeable, creative stewards of the earth’s environment.

As part of the university’s new academic calendar and curriculum which began this fall, all students are required to take at least one course dealing with Humans and the Environment.  All freshman students are also required to take two seminars, a number of which are focused on environmental and sustainability topics.

For more information, contact Furman’s News and Media Relations office at 864-294-3107.