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 350.
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 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships bring 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.
The Mellon Fellows Program aims to foster Fellows’ careers through close engagement with established scholars, including Stanford faculty associated with the program, internal and visiting fellows at the Stanford Humanities Center. The Program invites major figures in the humanities to present public lectures and participate in small group sessions with the Fellows, and the Fellows gather throughout the year, to present their research to one another and for professional development workshops devoted to pedagogy, publishing, and mentoring.
Stanford departments have hosted Mellon Fellows for over thirty years, based on a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the 1970s. In 2001, the fellowships were brought together into a coherent program under the leadership of Seth Lerer. Lerer developed the program into a genuine community of scholars, fostering intense dialogue across disciplines based primarily on regular and close engagement by the Fellows with one another’s work.
The Mellon Fellowship is currently directed by R. Lanier Anderson (Philosophy) and J.P. Daughton (History).
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.
Extending a successful three-year pilot launched in 2013 and culminating in this past spring, the Humanities Center will continue to award Hume Humanities Honors Fellowships to eight seniors for the 2016-17 academic year. Seniors should be in a humanities discipline and writing an honors thesis. Students are nominated by faculty advisors, and selected by a Stanford Humanities Center committee early in the fall quarter.
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 each year. Stanford departments, programs, and research centers and institutes are each eligible to nominate one candidate for consideration for a residency. During their stay, the international scholars are asked to share their research through a series of presentations, and engage with faculty and students to develop ongoing intellectual collaborations. 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 six 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.
