Fellowships
Stanford Graduate Students
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.
Deadline has passed
Fellowship Opportunities
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Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships[+]The Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships, endowed by Theodore and Frances Geballe, are awarded to doctoral students whose work is of the highest distinction and promise. The fellowship stipend for 2014-15 is expected to be $26,000 plus TGR fees. The recipients of these fellowships have offices at the Humanities Center and take part with other graduate and faculty fellows in the Center's programs, promoting humanistic research and education at Stanford. The Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships also provide an additional $2,000 in research funding.
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Mellon Foundation Dissertation Fellowships[+]The Mellon Dissertation Fellowships, which are generously funded by the Mellon Foundation, are awarded to advanced doctoral students whose work is of the highest quality and whose academic record to date indicates a timely progression toward completion of the degree. The 2014-15 stipend level for the Mellon Fellowships is expected to be $25,000 plus TGR fees.
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G.J. Lieberman Fellowships[+]The Lieberman Fellowship will be awarded to outstanding advanced doctoral students who intend to pursue a career in university teaching and research and who have demonstrated the potential for leadership roles in the academic community. The 2014-15 award is expected to be at least $36,500 plus TGR fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Eligibility[+]
The Geballe and Mellon Dissertation Fellowships are awarded to advanced graduate students, based on accomplished work of the highest distinction, and on the promise of further outstanding achievements in the humanities. The Lieberman Fellowship also requires a distinguished record of university teaching.
- Applicants must have advanced to Ph.D. candidacy.
- Applicants must have completed all requirements for the Ph.D., other than the dissertation (and its defense in departments where the University Oral Examination is such a defense). This includes handling any incompletes.
- Applicants must have a formally composed dissertation committee.
- Applicants must have a dissertation proposal approved by their committee.
- Applicants must have a strong likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship.
- Applicants must have reached TGR status by the beginning of autumn quarter of the fellowship year.
- Applicants must have completed supervised teaching, if required by their department, before the tenure of the fellowship.
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Requirements[+]
- No other employment, assistantship, or fellowship (unless specifically intended for travel or research expense) may be held concurrently. Exceptions to this restriction must be approved by the Humanities Center Director (for Geballe Fellows) or Ayodele Thomas (for Mellon and Lieberman Fellows).
- Geballe Fellows are strongly encouraged to live within ten miles of Stanford and take part in the life of the Center for the duration of their fellowship.
- Applicants who have previously held one of these fellowships are not eligible to reapply for that same fellowship (for example: a previous Mellon recipient may not apply again for a Mellon, but may apply for a Geballe and/or Lieberman).
- Applicants who have not previously held a Stanford dissertation fellowship will be given the most serious consideration.
- Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships are the only dissertation fellowships in the humanities that are open to applicants from the School of Education.
- Lieberman applicants should also provide evidence of teaching ability including a teaching statement. Please see application for further instructions.
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Application Process[+]Applications must be submitted via our online application system and must be in English. Access to the system will open in August. We discourage the submission of additional materials with your application and cannot circulate these to the committee or return such materials to you.
Applicants will be notified when their applications have been received, and will be notified of the fellowship competition outcome in late March. -
Application Content[+]
- Contact and biographical information about the applicant
- A curriculum vitae (C.V.)
- Current unofficial transcript (download from AXESS)
- Timetable for your completion of the degree
- 100-word statement: Provide a concise summary of the significance of your project. Assume your audience to be academics who are not specialists in your field.
- A brief description (no more than 1,000 words) of a research project.
- Two reference letters. One should be from your advisor. Referees are encouraged to submit letters through our online application system. Referees who wish to submit their letter of reference via email may send them to shc-fellowships@stanford.edu. Reference letters must be received at the Center by the application deadline - consideration of letters received after that date cannot be guaranteed.
- For Lieberman applicants only: Teaching statement (1-2 pages), information on courses taught‚ and teaching evaluation summary sheets for three courses.
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Application Criteria[+]A selection committee representing humanities departments and programs will review and rank the applications on the basis of the following criteria:
- The evidence of intellectual distinction
- The quality and precision of the dissertation proposal
- The applicant's timely progress toward the degree
- The likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship
- In the case of Geballe applicants, the likelihood of the applicant contributing to, as well as benefiting from, the programs of the Humanities Center
- In the case of Lieberman fellowships, the applicant's promise as a scholar, teacher, and leader in the academic community
For more information on the Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships, contact Robert Barrick, the Humanities Center fellowship administrator, 723.3054.
For more information on the Mellon Foundation and G.J. Lieberman fellowships, contact Ayodele Thomas, the Assistant Dean for Diversity Programs, Data and Technology, 724.3712. -
Other FAQs[+]For more frequently asked questions, click here.