The 2013-14 graduate student fellowship deadline has passed. Please check back in the fall regarding the exact January date for the 2014-15 application.
The Institute for the Humanities, founded in 1987, promotes interdisciplinary research and discourse in the humanities and the arts. The central function of the institute is to form an intellectual community of faculty and graduate student fellows from various departments who will spend a year in residence in the institute pursuing their research and participating in a cross-disciplinary, non-public weekly seminar. Applicants should show the humanities content of their research and demonstrate capacity to contribute to and gain from interdisciplinary exchange through the Fellows Seminar.
The institute has a faculty director and a small staff who manages the program and facilitates research by the resident fellows. A committee made up of three outside consultants and the institute’s executive committee chooses a small number of Michigan Faculty Fellows who spend an entire academic year on special assignment to the institute. At about the same time, a committee of U-M faculty, chaired by a member of the institute’s executive committee, selects graduate student fellows for a ten-month fellowship. To the core community formed by the faculty and graduate student fellows, we add several distinguished visiting fellows who typically join us for two to five weeks.
Each fellow has furnished office space and a personal computer at the institute’s quarters in the South Thayer Building. Graduate student fellows receive a stipend of $2,820 per month for ten months, beginning in either July or September, according to the individual fellow’s preference. The institute pays each fellow’s candidacy tuition and fees for the fall and winter terms and GradCare health insurance for the fellowship period.
Expectations
- Graduate student fellows are in residence for the year
- Graduate student fellows attend the weekly two-hour Fellows Seminar
Eligibility
- Applicants must be University of Michigan students and have attained candidacy at the time of application or provide a letter from their department vouching for the fact that they have successfully completed all of the requirements for candidacy
- Former or current holders of Rackham Predoctoral Fellowships are not eligible for Institute for the Humanities’ graduate student fellowships. Current applicants may certainly apply for both awards. A person who wins both awards must choose one or the other by the stated deadline.
Selection Criteria
- Promise of dissertation project and strength of academic record
- Interest in interdisciplinary work, as shown by the dissertation project and the applicant’s breadth of academic experience
- Humanities content of the project
- Letters of support: one letter must be from the dissertation chair, one letter from a U-M faculty member (in a department or program other than the student’s home department) or from a faculty at another university.
- The selection committee seeks to achieve variety and balance of disciplines in selecting the fellows
Deadlines and Schedules
Friday, January 11, 2013, at 5:00pm, is the deadline for submitting applications.
Applicants may submit one complete application in pdf or Microsoft Word format to
HUM-GSAP1314@umich.edu, or one single-sided hard copy (no staples, please; binder clips are acceptable). Those writing letters of recommendation on your behalf should mail or email them directly to the Institute for the Humanities.
Complete Application Includes:
1. Fellowship Application Form (signed)
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Two brief statements as described on the Fellowship Application.
4. Writing sample, strictly limited to 6,000 words, excluding footnotes and bibliographies (Note: if providing musical or visual work samples, place them on a web site and provide a URL link.)
5. Graduate transcripts (official or unofficial)
6. Proof of candidacy (unless posted on transcript)
7. Two letters of recommendation, one from your dissertation advisor and the second from a faculty member in another department. IMPORTANT: Make copies of the blank recommendation form and send each recommender (A) a signed recommendation form, (B) a copy of your dissertation statement, and (C) a copy of your graduate education statement. Recommenders should mail their letters directly to the Institute or send them as a pdf or Microsoft Word file to HUM-GSAP1314@umich.edu. (Be sure to remind your recommenders that the recommendation form needs to be signed by them as well as by you.)
March 15, 2013 is the approximate notification date.
Winners normally notify the Institute of their acceptance of the fellowship within two weeks of receiving the offer.
PLEASE NOTE THAT APPLICATION MATERIALS WILL NOT BE RETURNED.
