Whitman College in Walla Walla has received a $644,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The college will use the grant to turn eight faculty positions from temporary to permanent during the next two years, said Tim Kaufman-Osborn, provost and dean of the faculty, in a written statement.

The positions will be in the humanities and social sciences, he said.

The college will fill four positions in studio art, art history and visual culture studies, politics and psychology in the next school year.

Another four positions will be filled in 2012-13, in subjects yet to be determined.