MONMOUTH, Ill. — Recently, Monmouth College associate professor of chemistry Patricia Draves was a member of an Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM) grant-writing team that landed an $800,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation for a Faculty Career Enhancement Project.

Monmouth’s connection to the endeavor was furthered when professor Farhat Haq, chair of the political science department, was appointed as the project coordinator.

“This a wonderful appointment for Farhat,” said George Arnold, vice president for academic affairs. “She has served in many key positions of faculty governance at Monmouth and is very deserving of this opportunity.”

A member of the faculty at Monmouth since 1987, Haq has served as chair of the Faculty Senate and the Faculty and Institutional Development Committee. She was also the coordinator of the international studies major and has served as a member of a presidential search committee and the curriculum revision task force. Haq has also been involved in a number of ACM activities, including working as an advisor for the ACM India Program and coordinating the social science component for the ACM Diversity in the Curriculum project.

A graduate of the State University of New York at Fredonia, Haq earned her master’s degree in government from Cornell University in 1983 and her Ph.D. in government from Cornell in 1987. In her sixth year on Monmouth’s faculty, she won the prestigious Burlington Northern Foundation Faculty Achievement Award.

“The Faculty Career Enhancement Project was developed on the recognition that faculty are the core of our liberal arts colleges,” said Elizabeth Hayford, president of the ACM. “Many faculty spend their whole career at a single institution, and institutions are addressing ways to help faculty develop new areas of expertise as their disciplines change and interdisciplinary approaches become more widespread.”