The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
NEW DIRECTIONS FELLOWSHIPS
The Mellon Foundation’s New Directions Fellowships competition will run annually in 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11. This program is designed to assist faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are between five and 15 years from receiving their Ph.D.s and who wish to acquire systematic training outside their own disciplines. A detailed program announcement from the Mellon Foundation is shown below.
The Mellon New Directions Fellowship provides a full academic year of salary, four additional months of summer salary, and tuition and/or other reasonable costs associated with research and training. It could be used to fund an extended term of leave during semesters that would normally be unpaid. Though awards will be made in the spring of each year, the funds can be expended at the most convenient time over the following three academic years. There is also the possibility for an additional award, up to $50,000, for further training, writing, research or course development.
Should you be interested, please submit a proposal to the Dean of the Faculty office by September 5. The proposal should describe your plans for future research and accomplishments to date, as well as a brief outline of the anticipated program of study the new work requires. There is no prescribed length, format, or style guide. Please note that New Directions Fellowships are primarily for advanced training in pursuit of a specific research agenda. This program does not aim to facilitate short-term outcomes, such as completion of a book. Rather, New Directions Fellowships are meant to be viewed as longer-term investments in scholars’ intellectual range and productivity.
Each proposal should be accompanied by a CV and a substantial letter of appraisal from an informed senior colleague describing the importance of the candidate’s proposed research for his or her field and other relevant matters. A preliminary budget may be included, but the proposed costs of training are not considered in the selection process. The CAP will review all proposals internally and then select one for nomination to the Mellon Foundation by mid-September, so extensions beyond the September 5 deadline are not possible.
The final step in the selection process is for the nominated proposals from all participating colleges and universities to be evaluated by a panel of distinguished scholars convened by the Foundation. As of spring 2008, the Mellon Foundation has run this competition seven times. They have received a total of 275 nominations, from which they have selected a total of 65 fellows. They intend to select approximately ten new fellows each year, and once the fellows are appointed the Foundation will work with them to develop the final project budgets.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
NEW DIRECTIONS FELLOWSHIPS
Purpose
New Directions Fellowships assist faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who are between five and 15 years from receiving their Ph.D.s and who wish to acquire systematic training outside their own disciplines. Scholarship that crosses disciplinary boundaries holds great potential, but in practice it often requires formal substantive and methodological training in addition to the Ph.D. This program is intended to permit excellent scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences to work on problems that interest them most, but to do so at an appropriate level of sophistication. In addition to facilitating the work of individual faculty members, these awards should benefit humanistic scholarship more generally by encouraging the highest standards in cross-disciplinary research.
Terms of the Awards
Candidates will be faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences who were awarded doctorates between five and 15 years ago and whose research interests call for formal training in a discipline other than the one in which they are expert. Such training may consist of coursework or other programs of organized study. It may take place either at fellows’ home institutions, or elsewhere as appropriate. Although it is anticipated that most fellows will seek to acquire deeper knowledge of other fields in the humanities or social sciences, proposals to study disciplines farther afield will also be eligible. The principal criteria for selection are: (1) the overall significance of the research, (2) the case for the importance of extra-disciplinary training for furthering the research, (3) the likely ability of the candidate to derive satisfactory results from the training program proposed; and (4) a well-developed plan for acquiring the necessary training within a reasonable period of time.
Fellows will receive: (1) the equivalent of one academic year’s salary; (2) two summers of additional support, each at the equivalent two-ninths of the previous academic year salary; and (3) tuition and other reasonable 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. In addition to the awards for individual recipients, a subvention of up to $10,000 will be provided to their home institutions to assist in accommodating the fellows’ plans. The Foundation also asks that any budgetary relief resulting from the award be used for academic purposes, preferably in the fellow’s department.
Selection Process and the Making of Grants
Institutions will be invited to participate in this program and will be asked to solicit proposals from eligible faculty members in the humanities and humanistic social sciences wishing to further their research through engaging in programs of study in fields other than their own. It is expected that institutions will communicate the particulars of both the program and the application process throughout the relevant departments. Following an internal competition to be overseen by a committee of senior faculty members in the relevant disciplines, each institution will forward the proposals it has selected to the Foundation. The Foundation will convene a panel of distinguished scholars which will choose approximately ten finalists to present to the Foundation’s Trustees. Institutions and individual recipients will be notified and asked to provide budgets. Once the Trustees have given their final approval, grants will be awarded to, and administered by, the fellows’ home institutions.
Supplemental Award
New Directions fellows who have completed their programs of study and submitted their final reports will be eligible to apply for a supplemental award, not to exceed $50,000 to be used within three full academic years from the date of the award, to permit them to make appropriate scholarly use of their newly acquired training. These funds could be used for leave time (or summer support) in order to complete additional research, further training, writing projects, or course development associated with their New Directions programs. Other related uses will be considered.
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