Graduate Student Fellowships

The Center for the Humanities at Washington University is pleased to offer a fellowship opportunity for WU graduate students writing dissertations in humanities disciplines. Graduate students who are not actively participating in a mentored teaching or mentored research experience with the Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences will be eligible for a Center for the Humanities Graduate Student Fellowship, which offers a $5,000 stipend for the one-semester fellowship period. During the 2024–25 academic year, the center will offer several Graduate Student Fellowships, split between the fall semester and the spring semesters.

The students awarded the Graduate Student Fellowship will be active members the center’s community of fellows, which offers an intensive, interdisciplinary intellectual environment in which the Graduate Student Fellows can discuss their research with the Faculty Fellows and other Graduate Student Fellows in residence. The students will also be provided with a working space at the center (including a computer) during the period of the fellowship.  

In order to be eligible for the Graduate Student Fellowship, the applicant should be a graduate student in good standing in a WashU humanities department, and he or she must not be actively participating in a mentored teaching or mentored research experience with the Office of Graduate Studies in Arts & Sciences for the semester of his or her fellowship at the center. Students must not be engaged in any type of teaching or research assistantships during their fellowships. (Questions about allowable activities may be directed to the director of the humanities center.)

Read more about our current and past graduate student fellows.

How to Apply

Graduate Student Fellow Application Guidelines 

DEADLINE: Completed applications must be received by email no later than Friday, April 12, 2024.

Submit your application as a single pdf to cenhumapp@wustl.edu using the following naming convention for your application pdf: Last Name, First Name, Graduate Student Fellow App 2024-25

Applications must include:

  • Completed and signed Application Cover Sheet
  • Current C.V.
  • Letter of recommendation in support of the application from the student’s dissertation or primary advisor. Letters can be sent by e-mail to cenhumapp@wustl.edu
  • Brief letter from the chair or director of graduate studies of the student’s department approving the student’s application. The note must confirm that the student will not participate in a mentored teaching or research experience for the fellowship period in question and has completed all of the prerequisites required by the department with the exception of completing their dissertation. This letter can be sent by e-mail to cenhumapp@wustl.edu.  
  • Narrative: Attach a description not to exceed 800 words of the applicant’s dissertation project. Applicants should provide an intellectual justification for their projects, conveying the ideas, objectives, methods and work plan. A simple need or intent is insufficient. The narrative should not assume specialized knowledge and should be free of technical terms and jargon. 

The narrative must include the following sections:

  • Research and contribution: Describe the intellectual significance of the proposed project. Provide an overview of the project and explain the basic ideas, problems or questions examined by the study. Explain how the project will complement, challenge or expand relevant studies in the field.
  • Methods and work plan: Describe your method(s) and clarify the part or stage of the project that will be supported by the fellowship. Provide a work plan, describing what you will accomplish during the semester.
  • Final product and dissemination: Describe the intended results of the project. If relevant, explain how the results will be disseminated and why these means are appropriate to the subject matter and audience.

Download graduate student fellowship application

For questions concerning this application, send an email to cenhumapp@wustl.edu or Stephanie Kirk, director of the humanities center.

The winners will be selected by a committee of WashU humanities faculty. Announcement of the winners will be made by May 8, 2024.

Salvador Lopez Rivera

The most unexpected thing about my fellowship was that it showed me that work in the humanities does not have to be individualistic and solitary, it can also happen through the collaboration and support of your peers.

―Salvador Lopez RiveraDepartment of Romance Languages and Literatures (French) and Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Fall 2023 Graduate Student Fellow