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Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships

Program Details

With the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Dartmouth is pleased to accept applications for three postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities and humanistic social sciences from Fall 2021 to the end of Spring 2023. These fellowships foster the academic careers of scholars who have recently received their Ph.D. degrees by permitting them to pursue their research while gaining mentored experience as teachers and members of the departments and/or programs in which they are housed. The program also benefits Dartmouth by complementing existing curricula with underrepresented fields.

To qualify for the fellowship, applicants should have completed the Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 2020. 

We seek candidates for placement in one of Dartmouth's Arts and Humanities departments/programs, listed below. This year, we are not accepting applications in History or in Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. If your degree is in History but your humanistic interdisciplinary work is appropriate for placement in one of our Arts and Humanities departments/programs, then we welcome your application.  Applicants must focus on materials customarily associated with research in the humanities or employ methods common in humanistic research.

Dartmouth's Arts and Humanities Departments/Programs:

Departments: Art, Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, English and Creative Writing, Film and Media Studies, French and Italian, German Studies, Music, Philosophy, Religion, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese, Studio Art, Theater

Interdisciplinary Programs: African and African American Studies; Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages; Comparative Literature; Jewish Studies; Latin American, Latino, and Caribbean Studies; Middles Eastern Studies; Native American Studies; Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

Terms of Appointment

Fellows are expected to be in residency at Dartmouth for the full two years of the fellowship, although occasional travel necessary for research may be approved. Fellows teach one course in their home department(s) or program(s) in the second year of their residency. This course may be offered at any level from introductory to advanced topics that contribute something new to the Dartmouth curriculum, and the selection of course will be made in consultation with the home department(s) or program(s). Fellows do not teach basic language courses.

The appointed fellows will enjoy full use of such college resources as the library, computing center, the Leslie Center for the Humanities, Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences, the Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Hood Museum of Art, and the Hopkins Center.

The 2020-22 fellows received an annual stipend of $57,528 plus benefits, an annual research allowance of $2,000, and a first-year-only computer allowance of $2,500. The terms for the 2021-2023 fellows will be similar.

 

Application and Selection Process

Deadlines

The application period for 2021-23 Mellon Fellowships will begin on Monday, August 10.  Applications for the 2021-2023 fellowship must be received via Interfolio on or before September 15, 2020. 

Applications for Mellon Fellowships are to be submitted via Interfolio: apply.interfolio.com/77887 .  Please do not submit materials via email or postal mail; only information submitted via Interfolio will be considered. Materials to be submitted by the deadline include the application and all required documents listed in Interfolio. Incomplete dossiers will not be reviewed.

Application requirements include a completed application form; three confidential letters of reference; a CV; academic transcripts, and a personal statement (of no longer than 2,000 words) outlining completed research (including dissertation), work in progress, professional goals and plans for publication, and any other information relevant to the candidacy.

All documents are required electronically via Interfolio by September 15, 2020 at 12 midnight EST.

Please note that even if you have begun the submission process before the deadline, Interfolio will cut you off from further submissions after that date and time. We will only review files that are complete by our stated deadline.

Application Requirements

Transcripts uploaded to Interfolio technically are considered "unofficial." Uploaded transcripts are required and accepted at the time of application; finalists may be asked to submit official paper transcripts. If your graduate institution does not list grades on transcripts, please provide an explanation in your personal statement.

To qualify for the fellowship, applicants should have completed their Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 2020.  Applicants who do not yet have a Ph.D., but expect to complete one by the June 30th that precedes the start date of this fellowship, should submit a letter on institutional letterhead attesting to their anticipated schedule for completion. It may be signed by the advisor, chair of the department, or other relevant faculty member.  Please include this document as part of your transcript.

Fellowship applications and departmental requests to house a fellow will be evaluated by the Leslie Center's Advisory Committee, in consultation with the Associate Deans of the Faculty for the Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, and Interdisciplinary & International Programs. Strong fellowship applications will be circulated to relevant departments and programs, which will then be invited to apply to house one of the candidates. Departments and programs will be expected to justify requests for a fellow by detailing the benefits expected from, and afforded to, that fellow, and by indicating how the fellow might contribute something new, or currently lacking, to the intellectual life of the college.

There is no requirement that the fellows be U.S. citizens, but the Mellon Foundation does want to see the fellowships awarded to individuals who seem likely to make their careers in the United States.

Please contact us with any questions.

Timeline

  • September 15: Interfolio Application for Mellon Fellowship due
  • September through March: Evaluations
  • March: All candidates notified by email of their final status