Graduate students seeking funding for their interdisciplinary research will soon be one step closer to jumping financial hurdles, as President John Hennessy announced the establishment of the Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships program at last Thursday’s Academic Council meeting.

An anonymous donor has already pledged $25 million towards the program, and the University hopes to eventually raise enough money to fund 100 fellowships.

While many graduate students receive money from their departments or from outside companies and government agencies interested in their work, students in interdisciplinary fields — who do not necessarily belong to a department or do not pursue work in which outside groups are interested — may struggle to find funding.

“The increasing presence of students doing interdisciplinary research who often have less access to traditional department-based funding or external agency funding has created new needs for research funding for our students,” Hennessy said.

Doctoral students who plan on pursuing interdisciplinary research — either through Stanford’s several interdisciplinary research centers or through an individually designed program — can begin applying for the first fellowships next year, and the grants will be disbursed in autumn of 2008.

The program will be modeled on the existing Stanford Graduate Fellowships program, which provides three years of tuition support and a stipend for select students in the sciences and in engineering. That program, which awards 100 fellowships each year, is supported by a $200 million endowment.

Hennessy’s announcement was met with enthusiasm from the graduate community.

“This program will give students an opportunity to do research they otherwise would not be able to do,” said Graduate Student Council co-Chair Kristina Keating. “It’s a great announcement, and we’re very excited about it.”

At Thursday’s meeting, Hennessy also announced that $2.5 billion has been raised for the $4.3 billion Stanford Challenge initiated last year. He called the effort “the most successful campaign in the University’s history.”

The president also said that History Prof. Al Camarillo will take up the newly created position of special assistant to the President for faculty diversity.