UC Davis has been awarded $1,485,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support research in the humanities over the next seven years.

The grant is the largest single award to UC Davis from the 41-year-old foundation, the largest philanthropic organization with a dedicated commitment to supporting the humanities and the arts in higher education.

“We are honored that the Mellon Foundation selected UC Davis for this generous grant,” UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi said. “It recognizes the growing national reputation of our humanities program and will support significant research by our scholars for years to come.”

The funding will underwrite four research initiatives, each spanning three years. The first two initiatives, to begin this year, will focus on early modern studies and environmental humanities. They will be led, respectively, by Distinguished Professor of English Margaret Ferguson and Louis Warren, the W. Turrentine Jackson Professor of Western U.S. History. Topics for a second pair of initiatives to begin in 2013 will be selected by a competitive process.

The grant will enable the UC Davis Division of Humanities, Arts and Cultural Studies to hire four recent Ph.D. graduates as visiting assistant professors, offer graduate student fellowships and provide 24 more courses than otherwise would have been possible.

“This investment by the Mellon Foundation represents a vote of confidence in the kinds of collaborative and cross-disciplinary humanities research that we do here at UC Davis,” said Jessie Ann Owens, dean of the division. “We are especially grateful for this support at a time when our humanities programs are poised to reach a new level.”

Developed by Owens and American studies professor Carolyn de la Peña, director of the UC Davis Humanities Institute, the initiatives were designed to complement campus strengths while addressing general needs in the humanities.

“With this funding,” said de la Peña, “we can address issues of graduate recruitment, job shortages and other long-term challenges facing humanities scholars while also taking advantage of research opportunities unique to UC Davis.”

De la Peña said she expects the initiatives “to be incubators of field-shaping perspectives that will enrich our campus for years to come.”

Over the years, UC Davis has received nearly $3.2 million from the Mellon Foundation. Nearly all of that went to life sciences and environmental programs. The latest award is not only the campus’s largest from the foundation, it is also the first major Mellon grant to the humanities at UC Davis.

“It is very good news that Mellon recognizes that good work in the humanities is being done in places like UC Davis, traditionally better known for science and agriculture,” Owens said.

The foundation makes grants principally in five areas — higher education and scholarship, libraries and scholarly communications, conservation and the environment, museums and art conservation, and performing arts.

The grant will count toward The Campaign for UC Davis, a universitywide initiative to raise $1 billion from 100,000 donors to advance the university’s mission and vision.

“The Mellon Foundation is the most generous funder of the humanities in our nation and we are deeply honored by their selection of UC Davis for this prestigious support,” Owens said.