Fellowships
The Humanities Center offers approximately twenty-five residential fellowships for the academic year to Stanford and non-Stanford scholars at different career stages, giving them the opportunity to pursue their work in a supportive intellectual community.
The Humanities Center also brings distinguished scholars to Stanford for shorter visits to foster dialogue between Stanford researchers and scholars based in other regions around the world.
External fellowships are intended primarily for individuals currently teaching in or affiliated with an academic institution, but independent scholars may apply. Faculty fellowships are awarded across the spectrum of academic ranks (assistant, associate, and full professor) and a goal of the selection process is to create a diverse community of scholars. Applicants who are members of traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged to apply. There are no citizenship requirements for these fellowships; non-U.S. nationals are welcome to apply. Awards are made from an applicant pool of approximately 250.
Internal Faculty Fellowships are intended primarily for active Stanford academic council faculty, but lecturers and senior lecturers with continuing appointments and emeriti faculty may also apply. One goal of the fellowship selection process is to create a diverse community of scholars across the spectrum of academic fields and ranks. Scholars who are members of traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.
The Humanities Center and the School of Humanities and Sciences collaborate to administer the three Stanford humanities dissertation fellowships: the Geballe, Lieberman, and Mellon Fellowships. Stanford students submit one application to be considered for one or more of these fellowships; however, please note that required application materials, eligibility, and selection criteria are different for each fellowship. These are also subject to change each academic year.
The Humanities Center has established a three-year pilot program (2013-2016) to award a Hume Humanities Honors Fellowship at the Stanford Humanities Center to 6-8 seniors. This academic-year fellowship will be awarded to seniors writing an honors thesis in one of Stanford’s humanities departments. Students are selected in September of each year from nominations by September Studies Bing Honors College faculty leaders.
In collaboration with the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), the Stanford Humanities Center brings high profile international scholars to Stanford for short-term residencies of one to two months each year. Stanford departments, research institutes, and programs nominate leading scholars who have not had significant exposure to U.S. universities or to Stanford in particular. Often, these experts are working in similar fields or on complementary projects to their campus counterparts. A selection committee, made up of faculty and administrators from Stanford’s humanities and social science disciplines, appoints approximately five scholars per year to come to Stanford. Visitors are chosen for their ability to expose the campus to new and relevant research agendas or geographic regions, and the likelihood that the residency will result in lasting scholarly contributions. For insight into the kind of work scholars undertake while at the Humanities Center, please see the Q&As with former international visitors.
The Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities (formerly the Stanford Humanities Fellows Program) is an interdisciplinary program offering post-doctoral fellowships in humanities disciplines. The program brings outstanding younger scholars (within three years of the PhD) to Stanford on two-year fellowships (with the possibility of a third). Fellows enjoy substantial time to pursue research, teach two courses per year in an affiliated Stanford Department, and participate in an active program of scholarly exchanges with other Fellows, Stanford faculty, and outside visitors.
Each Fellow is affiliated with a Stanford Humanities department, which arranges teaching and office space. This complements the Fellowship’s cross-disciplinary community by promoting Fellows’ full engagement in the activities of their home disciplines here at Stanford. Mellon Fellows are also full participants in the intellectual life at the Stanford Humanities Center. Fellows will have the opportunity to be active in the Humanities Center's programs and workshops.
