Deadline for Applications: October 02, 2017
Society of Fellows in the Humanities 2018-2019 Competition
The Columbia Society of Fellows in the Humanities, with grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the William R. Kenan Trust, will appoint a number of postdoctoral fellows in the humanities for the academic year 2018-2019. Fellows newly appointed for 2018-2019 must have received the PhD between 1 January 2016 and 1 July 2018. The Fellowship Stipend for 2018-2019 is $63,000. Medical benefits are provided, and subsidized housing is available. There is a $7,000 research allowance per annum.
Applicants may apply by clicking the “Go to Application” button or link on any of the Fellowship-related pages on this site. The “Application Materials” PDF– which includes detailed application instructions— may be downloaded at “Application Materials (PDF)” or from any Fellowship-related page.
Please be sure to read the instructions carefully before submitting your application.
We do not accept recommendations delivered via dossier services (e.g. Interfolio).
Terms Of Fellowship Appointment
Fellows are appointed as Postdoctoral Research Scholars (Mellon Fellows) in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities and as Lecturers in appropriate departments at Columbia University (departments are listed in the “Application Materials (PDF)”). The one-year Fellowship renews automatically for a second and a third year. In the first year, Fellows teach one course per semester. At least one of these courses must be in the undergraduate (“Core”) education program: Contemporary Civilization, Literature Humanities, Music Humanities, Art Humanities, Asian Civilizations, Asian Humanities, or Global Cultures.
The second course may be a departmental course, the design of which will be determined jointly by the Fellow and the Fellow’s academic department. In the second year, Fellows teach one course: either a Core course (if only one of the two first-year courses was in the Core) or a departmental course. This will leave one semester in the second year free of teaching responsibilities. In the third year, Fellows again teach one course, either a Core course or a departmental course (to be decided jointly by the Fellow and the Fellow’s department), leaving one semester again free of teaching responsibilities. Please note that all teaching–whether a Core class or a department one–is to be arranged by the Fellow through the Fellow’s home academic department. At least two of the three courses taught in the first two Fellowship years must be in the Core.
In addition to teaching and research, the duties of Fellows include planning a weekly Thursday Lecture Series, which is open for attendance to members of the University community, and participation in the intellectual life of the Society and of the department with which the Fellow is affiliated. The Society also cosponsors conferences and special events planned by Fellows around their special interests.
To aid in the research process, each Fellow is assigned to a private office with a phone, and access to campus Wi-Fi. The research allowance may be used to pay for research-related expenses such as conferences, professional memberships, and research materials.