The Fellowship Program at the Humanities Center
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With the support of the UT Chancellor’s Office, the Office of Research and Engagement, our affiliated arts and humanities departments, and the College of Arts and Sciences, the UT Humanities Center supports the creation of groundbreaking humanities research through our fellowship programs. Learn more and apply below.
We offer faculty and graduate-student research fellowships for members of the UT departments of English, History, Philosophy, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures, Classics, Religious Studies, Music, Theatre, and Art.* Currently we offer six faculty and four graduate-student full-year residencies and also offer full-year residencies to the Marco Institute’s Haslam Dissertation fellow and to UT faculty who have won national humanities fellowships such as the ACLS or NEH fellowships.
In 2017, UT humanities faculty ranked #1 in the nation for numbers of NEH summer stipends and 4th among US public universities for NEH fellowships. The UT Humanities Fellowship Program contributes to this research productivity directly by requiring application to national award competitions as part of its fellowship application process.
Faculty Fellowships
The UT Humanities Center offers six Faculty Research Fellowships to full-time, tenure-stream faculty in its nine affiliated humanities departments at UT to enable faculty to finish long-term research undertakings such as books and digital projects. A UTHC Fellowship is a full-year research release from teaching and service while in residency at the UT Humanities Center. Residency includes participating in the life of the Center by working daily in the office space provided at the UTHC, presenting work in progress, and engaging with other fellows and with visiting scholars in once-weekly Chandler Seminars.
Digital Humanities Fellowships
The UT Humanities Center hosts a one-semester Digital Humanities Research Fellowship for a full-time, tenure-stream UT faculty member from any department on the UT campus whose digital work directly engages humanities research.
Graduate Student Fellowships
The UT Humanities Center offers four Graduate Student Research Fellowships to Ph.D. students in its nine affiliated departments who are past comprehensive exams and writing their dissertations. A UTHC Fellowship is a full-year research release from teaching and service while in residency at the Center. Residency includes research space at the Center, access to our library liaison and to designated travel funds, publicly presenting research at Chandler Seminars, and engaging with distinguished visiting scholars.
Application links and fellowship details are located with the accordion boxes above.
* If your department faculty’s research addresses key humanities issues and you wish the department to become a supporter of the UTHC and participate in this fellowship program, contact us at humanitiesctr@utk.edu.
“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.