Grant to Support Expansion of Neuroscience Program

Smith College has received a $150,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, based in Jacksonville, Florida, that will support a two-year expansion of the college's rapidly growing neuroscience program.

The grant will fund faculty and curriculum development while supporting the purchase of highly technological lab equipment and computers used in courses in neuroanatomy, neurophysiology and molecular neurobiology as well as student research on campus and at major neuroscience research centers off campus.

The neuroscience program at Smith, which was established as a major in 1996 (formerly offered as a minor), has doubled its course offerings during the past 10 years while increasing class enrollment by 72 percent. To support a full-scale major in neuroscience, a highly interdisciplinary field, Smith plans to offer classes with a specific neuroscience focus to be taught by faculty members in the psychology, biology, biochemistry and physics departments.

"This grant gives us an important opportunity to further prepare Smith students for a future in which scientific and technological expertise will be increasingly required for success," notes Donald Baumer, dean for academic development. The percentage of Smith students majoring in the sciences, especially chemistry and neuroscience, has increased dramatically during the past 20 years and the number of graduates entering fields in science and technology immediately after graduation has tripled in percentage since 1990.

Smith College, founded in 1871, is consistently ranked among the nation's top liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from every state and 50 other countries, Smith is the largest undergraduate women's college in the United States.

June 10, 1999