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 PhDs 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 as many as 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.
June 5, 2006