PROVIDENCE — Brown University has received $3 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to be used to increase the number of graduate students in the humanities over the next several years.

A university news release said the grant will set up an endowment for Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Fellows in the Humanities. The fellowship will support up to 14 more students over the next five years, providing stipend and research costs during years one, two, four and five of their studies.

The award will also help support an estimated 13 curriculum-development awards so that the graduate school can introduce interdisciplinary seminars to bring together students across fields for training in languages, quantitative skills and analytic skills such as mapping and geographic information systems.

The seminars will be co-sponsored by the Cogut Center for the Humanities.

The university said it expects the Mellon Graduate Fellowships in the Humanities to help draw graduate students to Brown. Humanities students make up nearly 25 percent of those in the doctoral program.