University of Pennsylvania Fellowships in the Humanities

Overview

Five (5) one-year Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships are available for the 2012-2013 academic year for untenured scholars in the humanities who received or will receive their Ph.D. between December 2003 and December 2011. The fellowship is open to all scholars, national and international, who meet application terms (see Guidelines below).

The programs of the Penn Humanities Forum are conceived through yearly topics that invite broad interdisciplinary collaboration. For the 2012–2013 academic year, we have set Peripheries as the theme. Humanists and those in related fields are invited to submit research proposals on any aspect of this topic. Exclusions are projects on educational curriculum building and work by performing artists (n.b., scholars of performance are eligible). The PhD is the only eligible terminal degree.

Fellows teach one undergraduate course in addition to conducting their research. The fellowship stipend is $46,500, plus health insurance. Fellows also receive a research fund of $2500. Fellows are required to be in residence during their fellowship year (September–May).

Application Guidelines

The Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities at the Penn Humanities Forum, University of Pennsylvania, is open to scholars who are not yet tenured and who are no more than eight years out of their doctorate. Candidates may hold a tenure-track position but may not be tenured either before or during the fellowship year.For the 2012–2013 Fellowship, candidates must have received or will receive their Ph.D. between December 2003 (not before) and December 2011. You must have your degree in hand or have passed your defense no later than December 2011 to be eligible. Your application will not be considered unless this condition is met (i.e., you are ineligible to apply if you will defend or otherwise submit your dissertation anytime in 2012). The Ph.D. is the only terminal degree eligible (i.e., MFAs and other doctorates such as EdD are ineligible).

During their year in residence, Penn Humanities Forum Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows will have the opportunity to pursue their own research. That research must relate to Peripheries, the Forum's topic of study for 2012–13. Fellows must also participate in the weekly Mellon Research Seminar of the Penn Humanities Forum (Tuesdays, 12:00–2:00), and present their research at one of those seminars.

In addition to conducting their research, Mellon Fellows are required to teach one freshman seminar in an appropriate department. In writing the course proposal for the freshman seminar, please consider carefully the university's description of those seminars (click here for examples of Penn Freshman Seminar descriptions).

In selecting a cohort of fellows, we aim for a balanced mix of recent Ph.D.s and more seasoned tenure-track faculty (who do not yet have tenure). Preference will be given to candidates whose proposals are interdisciplinary, who have not held a comparable postdoctoral fellowship elsewhere or enjoyed previous use of the resources of the University of Pennsylvania, and who would particularly benefit from and contribute to Penn's intellectual life.HOW TO APPLY

Call for Applications, 2012-13 (Topic: Peripheries)

1. Complete the Application Form
	•	Save your completed application as a PDF.
	•	Your application file name should read only: your last name_first initial.pdf (smith_p.pdf)

2. Arrange for three (3) letters of recommendation
	•	Contact each referee now We strongly encourage you to contact each referee immediately with your request, calling his or her attention to the absolute deadline of October 15, 2011. In your email to your referees, please direct them to submit their letter online using our Reference Letter Submission Forum and to name their document your last name_first initial_REFS LAST NAME.doc or .pdf(smith_p_JONES.doc or smith_p_JONES.pdf).
	•	Referee deadline Referees must submit their letters of recommendation no later than the October 15 deadline. Referees must upload their confidential letters here. Letters may be submitted as either a PDF or a Word document.
	•	Letters should not be merely testimonials, but instead should contain a substantive appraisal of your ability as it relates specifically to your field and proposed research. For this reason, we strongly advise against submitting letters forwarded by a dossier service or career placement office, although we will accept them if no other alternatives exist.
	•	*We request three letters only.* Any additional letters will not be considered.

3. Prepare a curriculum vitae
	•	Your c.v. file name should read only: cv_last name_first initial.doc (cv_smith_p.doc)

4. Submit application and CV here
	•	Applications will be accepted online only. Applications sent by post or email will be considered ineligible.
	•	Applications must be submitted by midnight EST, Saturday, October 15, 2011.

Questions?

Email or call Jennifer Conway
conwayj@sas.upenn.edu
Associate Director
Penn Humanities Forum
Tel: 215.898.8220
http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu/applications/postdoc/cfa.shtml

Please quote Scholarization.blogspot.com on your application when applying for this fellowship