The Mellon Foundation has invited Washington University in St. Louis to nominate 1 candidate for the Fall 2023 New Directions Fellowship competition. These fellowships provide support for exceptional faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who received their doctorates between 2011 and 2017. Fellows undertake systematic training beyond their fields of specialization in order to acquire the new competencies needed for the pursuit of a cross-disciplinary research agenda. This fellowship does not aim to facilitate short-term outcomes, such as completion of a book. Rather, it is a longer-term investment in the scholar’s intellectual range and productivity.
Priority will be given to applications that manifest:
- a strong focus on questions of social justice as they pertain to minoritized populations, or
- an investment in filling in the gaps left by more traditional narratives in the history of the Americas.
Note: The second field of study must be a foray into a new area of intellectual inquiry/subject and not just an enhancement of skills to go further in the primary field. Language study, technical training, or skills acquisition such as GIS mapping do not, by themselves, constitute a new direction.
Awarded fellows receive:
- The equivalent of one academic year’s salary;
- Two summers of additional support, each at the equivalent two-ninths of the previous academic year salary; and
- Tuition or course fees or equivalent direct costs associated with the fellows’ training programs.
To permit flexibility in meeting individual scholars’ needs, these funds may be expended over a period not to exceed three full academic years following the date of the award. The award normally can be delayed for a maximum of one year, if circumstances require it. The Foundation also expects the fellow’s home institution to use budgetary relief resulting from the award for academic purposes, preferably in the fellow’s department.