USA : Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities: 2010–2011 Application Call

Topic: Virtuality

Five (5) one-year Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships are available for the 2010-2011 academic year for untenured scholars in the humanities who received or will receive their Ph.D. between December 2001 and December 2009. 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 2010–2011 academic year, we have set Virtuality as the theme. Humanists and those in related fields are invited to submit research proposals on any aspect of this topic, except educational curriculum building and the performing arts.

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

Application Deadline: Thursday, October 15, 2009
Applications will be accepted via online webform only.
Awards will be announced by the end of December 2009.

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 2010–2011 Fellowship, candidates must have received or will receive their Ph.D. between December 2001 and December 2009. You must have your degree in hand or have passed your defense no later than December 2009 to be eligible. Your application will not be considered unless this condition is met. 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 Virtuality, the Forum’s topic of study for 2010–11. 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 fall freshman seminar, please consider carefully the university’s description of those seminars (click here for examples of Penn Freshmen Seminar descriptions).

Preference will be given to candidates whose proposals are interdisciplinary, who have not previously used the resources of the University of Pennsylvania, and who would particularly benefit from and contribute to Penn’s intellectual life.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

1. COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM

• Important note: if you downloaded form before 15 July 09, you will need to resubmit using updated application, which incorporates a new question 14 originally omitted in error.
• The file name should read only: your last name_first initial.doc (smith_p.doc)

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, 2009.
• Referee deadline. Referees must email their letters of recommendation no later than the October 15 deadline. Referees should email their confidential letters directly to the Penn Humanities Forum (phf[at]sas.upenn.edu), with the subject line: Postdoc Ref. for . 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.
• We request three letters only. Any additional letters will not be considered.

3. PREPARE A CURRICULUM VITAE

• The 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, Thursday, October 15, 2009.

Questions?

Email or call Jennifer Conway
Associate Director
Penn Humanities Forum
Tel: 215.898.8220
Email: conwayj@sas.upenn.edu

For further details go to:
http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu/mellon_cfa.shtml