Soviet Studies Center Gets Mellon Grant

The Harvard Russian Research Center successfully ended a $2.6 million, two-year fund drive for their advanced research and training programs in Russian Studies with a $600,000 grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation.

The grant concludes the first phase of the Center's joint fund drive with the Columbia Russian Institute initiated in November 1976. The Center and Institute will split the $2.6 million and each will receive $1.3 million.

Big Boost

The grant is a "big boost" for the Center because it will create a substantial endowment and provide funds for post-doctoral fellowships. Abram Bergson, George F. Baker professor of Economics and director of the Russian Research Center, said yesterday.

Insufficient Funds

Although the Center received money from the Ford Foundation for operating expenditures since its founding, these grants were never sufficient to fund either an endowment or post-doctoral fellowships, Bergson said.

Of the $600,000 given to the Center by the Mellon Foundation. $500,000 will be used as permanent endowment for junior and senior post-doctoral fellowships, while the remining $100,000 will go toward the Center's library and its additional expenses over a five-year period, Bergson said.

The Mellon grant fills the financial gap between limited government financial support and waning grants from the Ford Foundation, which concluded its funding of the Center with a matching grant of $500,000, Bergson said.