A new $1.8 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will enable humanities departments at the University of Wisconsin to hire postdoctoral students and expand course offerings beginning next semester.

For the next four years starting fall 2010, humanities departments in the College of Letters and Science will add three postdoctoral students each year, according to Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Science.

Each postdoctoral student will work at UW for two years. Sandefur said in that time, they will conduct research, attend seminars and workshops, teach classes and participate in the scholarly life of UW.

Postdoctoral students will add a boost to departments after numerous faculty departures over the past five years, Steven Nadler, chairman of the philosophy department said, adding that students will also benefit.

“For students, there will be more courses to offer and new research coming to the university,” Nadler said.

Advertising and applications for the positions have not been released, but Nadler said he hopes to have an exciting group of cross-disciplinary postdoctoral students to help bring different disciplines within humanities and social sciences together.

Another grant received from the Mellon Foundation last fall also focused on interdisciplinary thinking, but among new faculty.

The $2.5 million grant awarded to UW provides three years of funding for 12 new faculty members in humanities departments, Sandefur said.

The grant allows the university to hire faculty quicker than it normally would, he added. Over the course of the grant, the history and English departments will hire six new faculty members each. Four faculty members will be added next semester.

All new faculty members will work with other departments as part of an interdisciplinary community, Sandefur said.

Nadler said UW is strong in collaborative research efforts.

“We have particularly strong departments in social sciences and humanities, and we have excellent faculty and students,” he said.

Sandefur said UW’s humanities departments are usually ranked among the top universities in the country and this may draw grants from the Mellon Foundation.

“[The Mellon Foundation] likes to support humanities at prestigious institutions like Wisconsin,” he said.

Many places do not fund the humanities, Sandefur said, adding those that do are not funding them with the same consistency and amount as the Mellon Foundation does.

He added the foundation acts as a major contributor to the humanities around the country, and over the years they have remained very supportive of UW.

They have provided funding for workshops as well as a UW-created “Dictionary of American Regional English,” a multi-volume dictionary that includes slang, unusual phrases and expressions collected from around the country, Sandefur said.

In the future, Sandefur said UW will maintain a good relationship with the Mellon Foundation.

“They have supported us in the past and we look forward to a continuing relationship with them,” he said.

The Mellon Foundation denied comment.