American Historical Association

ACLS Announces Early Career Fellowships

The American Council of Learned Societies has announced a significant new fellowship program providing support for scholars at an early stage in their careers to complete their dissertation and, later, to advance their research after being awarded the PhD. Under the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/ACLS Early Career Fellowship Program fellowships will be awarded in two categories: Dissertation Completion Fellowships and Fellowships for Recent Doctoral Recipients. A grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports this program.

The first competition for Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowships will take place in 2006–07 and will be open to graduate students writing dissertations in the humanities and related social sciences. This program aims to encourage timely completion of the PhD. Applicants must be prepared to complete their dissertations within the period of their fellowship tenure or shortly thereafter. ACLS will award 65 fellowships in this competition. Each fellowship will carry a stipend and benefits up to a total of $33,000.

The first competition for Mellon/ACLS Fellowships for Recent Doctoral Recipients will take place in 2007–08. Eligibility for these 25 fellowships will be limited to scholars who held Dissertation Completion Fellowships (or were highly ranked in that fellowship competition) and who completed their dissertations within the period specified in their first fellowship application. Also eligible will be scholars who held other national dissertation fellowships—such as the Whiting Fellowships—and who completed their dissertations within the period specified in their first application. These fellowships will carry stipends of $30,000 to allow the fellow to devote an academic year to research. Awardees will have up to two years from the date of the award to take up fellowship tenure. It is expected that some awardees may use their fellowship to take leave from a faculty position; those without a full-time position may choose to affiliate with a humanities research center or conduct research independently.

Details about these and other ACLS fellowship programs can be obtained from the council’s web site at http://www.acls.org/fel-comp.htm.

—Adapted from an ACLS notice

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