Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

History

During the initial years of Alfred P. Sloan's presidency, the foundation devoted its resources almost exclusively to education in economics and business. Grants were made to develop materials to improve high school and college economics teaching; for preparation of and wide distribution of inexpensive pamphlets on the pressing economic and social issues of the day; for weekly radio airing of round table discussions on current topics in economics and related subjects; and for establishing a Tax Institute at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania to interpret new taxes and new trends in public finance for the average citizen.

From 1936 to 1945, Harold S. Sloan, an economist and Alfred's younger brother, served as director and vice president of the foundation.

The Sloan Foundation also made many civic contributions to the foundation's home city of New York, including grants to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Channel 13, New York Public Library, New York University, and the Fund for the City of New York.

Starting in 2018, Adam Falk, past president of Williams College, assumed the presidency of the foundation.

Programs

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation makes grants in seven broad subjects, known within the foundation as major program areas:

• Science,
• Economics,
• STEM Higher Education,
• Digital Information Technology,
• Public Understanding of Science, Technology & Economics,
• Working Longer,
• Energy & Environment.

The Sloan Work and Family Researchers Network supports research and education about work-family issues. The foundation also funded the national workplace flexibility campaign as part of the Working Families program led by Kathleen E. Christensen.

The Sloan Research Fellowships are annual awards given to more than 126 young researchers and university faculty, to further studies in chemistry, computational and evolutionary microbiology, computer science, economics, mathematics, neuroscience, ocean sciences and physics.

In March 2008, the foundation awarded a $3 million grant to the Wikimedia Foundation. It made additional grants in July 2011 and January 2017.

The Sloan Foundation is the primary funder of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, a major astronomical survey that began data collection in 2000.

In 1945, the Sloan Foundation donated $4 million to launch the Sloan Kettering Cancer Institute, now the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

In 1950, the Sloan Foundation made a gift of more than $5 million to establish a School of Industrial Management, now known as the MIT Sloan School of Management.

In 1955, the Sloan Foundation made a gift to establish the first two-year academic program in healthcare management in the US at Cornell University, initially called the Sloan Institute of Hospital Administration and now known as the Sloan Program in Health Administration.

Presidents

1. Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (19341961)
2. Everett Case (19621968)
3. Nils Y. Wessell (19691979)
4. Albert Rees (19791988)
5. Ralph E. Gomory (19892007)
6. Paul L. Joskow (20082017)
7. Adam F. Falk (20182025)

References

References

1. [http://www.sloan.org/pages/1/about-the-foundation About the Foundation] Sloan Foundation. {{webarchive. link. (2012-01-03)
2. (27 February 2023). "2022 Annual Report". Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
3. (2009). "Alfred P. Sloan Foundation: A Grantmaking History 1934-2009". Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
4. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1963/10/06/89551064.pdf "Fairleigh Dickinson Elects"], ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 6, 1963. Accessed October 1, 2017, Subscription required.
5. (November 9, 1988). "Harold S. Sloan, 100, Former Manufacturer". The New York Times.
6. "Alfred P. Sloan Foundation History".
7. Stafford, Scott. (June 29, 2017). "Williams College President Adam Falk to step down in December". [[The Berkshire Eagle]].
8. "National Challenge for Higher Education: Campaign Recruiting Materials".
9. (January 25, 2013). "Kathleen E. Christensen: Program Director".
10. "Sloan Research Fellowships".
11. Bergstein, Brian. (26 March 2008). "Sloan Foundation donates $3M to Wikipedia". [[USA Today]].
12. (January 9, 2017). "Wikimedia Foundation receives $3 million grant from Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to make freely licensed images accessible and reusable across the web". Wikimedia Foundation.
13. (27 August 2015). "Sloan Kettering Institute Marks 70 Years of Changing Cancer".
14. "About MIT Sloan". MIT.
15. (9 March 2007). "Nils Wessell, 92, Leader Who Transformed Tufts, Is Dead". The New York Times.
16. (1957). "Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Report for 1955-56". Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 39-2 2'566.