Wriston Fellowships

The Wriston Fellowships were initiated by a gift of Thomas J. Watson, Jr. ’37 in 1972 in honor of former president Henry M. Wriston. It was Wriston’s preference that the fund be used for fellowships for faculty members, preferably the younger ones, to encourage innovations in teaching and to provide time for scholarly work or travel to observe educational developments. It had long been one of Wriston’s opinions, best expressed in his The Nature of a Liberal College published in 1937, that “Refreshment is a significant word for teaching; everything possible should be done to prevent staleness. Travel one of the best methods of renewing the teacher; a college can make no more rewarding investment than the encouragement of its staff members to move about with sufficient leisure so that they do not get a tourist’s eye view of the world, but gain something of significant insight.”