Howard University has announced a $1.4 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to help create a program that will strengthen its Department of Economics.

The program is designed to attract and retain top talent through tuition and stipend support for students and postdoctoral fellow researchers. Stipends will cover cost-of-living expenses and allow for research experience under faculty mentorship. Starting in the fall 2021 semester, the program will provide annual fellowships including tuition and stipend support for six undergraduate students, eight doctoral students, and one postdoctoral researcher. In addition, the program will offer support for department faculty members to attend conferences, seminars, and workshops, including travel expenses, and provide junior and mid-career faculty with financial support to grow their research and teaching experience.

"It is important that funders support the institutions that have been creating, training, and nurturing historically underrepresented minority economists. Howard has done an excellent job of mentoring future economists for many years," said Omari Swinton, chair of the Howard University Department of Economics, the only economics department at a historically Black college or university with a doctoral program. "This support will allow us to do an even better job for the next generation of economists."