![UT Humanities Center Fellow Cohort, 2022-2023](https://humanitiescenter.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/UT-Humanities-Center-2022-Class.jpg)
Become a Graduate Fellow at the UT Humanities Center
With the support of the Chancellor’s Office and the Office of Research and Engagement, the Denbo Center offers four one-year graduate student research fellowships to students in the nine departments affiliated with the Center. Residency for graduate students includes a personal office, access to our library liaison, opportunities publicly to present research and to work with distinguished visiting scholars, and use of all Center facilities. Graduate student Fellows are eligible for travel funding through the DCHA’s Riggsby Travel Fund and Graduate Student Summer Travel Fund and are given fellows’ privileges at the UT Library.
How it works
The Denbo Center offers four fellowships to UT graduate students who have completed all the requirements for the Ph.D. save writing the dissertation and who have applied successfully to the Center’s fellowship program.
Graduate-student Fellows are released from all teaching and/or tutoring duties for the entire academic year and have access to all amenities offered by the DCHA, including private offices during their tenure. All successful applicants are required to participate in the life of the Center by working daily in the personal offices provided at the DCHA, participating in and presenting work in once-weekly Chandler Seminars, and (if desirable) participating in ongoing DCHA faculty seminars.
To qualify for a Graduate-student Fellowship, students
- must be ABD and have a defined dissertation project. Student applicants must be full-time graduate students at the University of Tennessee who have completed all the requirements for the Ph.D. (e.g., course work, comprehensive and language exams) save writing the Ph.D. dissertation. We expect that every successful applicant will complete writing the dissertation no later than 31 August of the following calendar year.
- must have permission from their departments to apply for a full year’s research leave.
How to apply
All application materials must be received in the DCHA office by the close of the workday on November 1 (or the subsequent workday if this date is a holiday or on a weekend) of the current calendar year. Students should follow the directions on this application form and submit their full application by deadline in November.
Any student applicant with questions should consult with the Denbo Center director by phone or email at any time.
![UT Humanities Center Group Image](https://humanitiescenter.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/UT-Humanities-Center-Cast.jpg)
“The humanities are the main course of life, the essential core of meaning in the world, where our values and our best selves are defined.”
—Amy J. Elias, UT Humanities Center Director
UT ranks tenth in the country among all universities, public and private, in the number of NEH fellowships received between 2004 and 2022.
Graduate students chosen to spend a year in the UTHC working on their dissertations graduate, on average, 1.5 years sooner, publish their first book sooner, and receive better job offers than other students in the humanities.
Faculty who spend a year at the University of Tennessee win NEH and other awards and publish award-winning books and research projects more quickly.