Fellowship Guidelines
Graduate Student Fellowship Awards
Applications are invited from U of I graduate students for selection as IPRH Graduate Student Fellows for the 2010-11 academic year. The fellowship will enable advanced graduate students to develop their dissertations or research projects; and to participate in the year’s activities, including the yearlong interdisciplinary Fellows’ Seminar and related programming. Graduate Student Fellows receive a $7,000 stipend and a tuition/fee waiver if one is not otherwise provided. (Please note that, for the 2010-11 year, the IPRH fellowship competition will not be guided by an annual theme; applications will be judged on the scholarly merit of the proposed research project.)
Each applicant should submit two (2) complete sets of the following materials, in this order:
- A completed IPRH application form, including a 100-word abstract (form can be downloaded here)
- A current curriculum vitae, including a list of all graduate courses taken, papers published, presentations made, and assistantships and fellowships held
- All graduate transcripts (official copies in the first set of materials, and duplicate copies in the remaining set)
- A statement of 2,000 words describing the student’s research on the proposed project, including preparation to undertake this research and all progress on the project to date
The applicant should arrange for the IPRH to receive two (2) letters in support of the application; these letters should speak to the applicant’s abilities and achievements, to his/her progress on the project, and to the intellectual value of the project itself. One of these letters must come from the faculty member supervising the student’s dissertation or equivalent research. Applicants should make certain that their teaching and research obligations do not prevent them from participating fully in IPRH activities, and should identify in the narrative statement any other applications being made for other campus or external grants and fellowships.
In the narrative statement, the applicant should describe his/her research in reasonable detail, explaining its significance to the broader scholarly community at the U of I and elsewhere. The statement should be prefaced by a project title and a brief abstract (no more than 100 words). The statement should also indicate the applicant’s willingness to participate in IPRH activities, especially the Fellows’ Seminar.
All IPRH Fellows are expected to maintain residency on the U of I campus during the award year. Graduate students who have previously held an IPRH fellowship may not reapply. Graduate Student Fellows may also hold appointments as teaching/research assistants during the award year, but these appointments may not exceed one-third time (33 percent). Graduate students may not hold an IPRH fellowship and a Center on Democracy fellowship, or any other similar campus or off-campus award, simultaneously.
Completed applications must be submitted, and letters of support must arrive, by 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 2, 2009. Be sure that both sets of application materials are assembled and complete, and proofread all submissions carefully; changes or additions cannot be made after the application has been submitted to the IPRH. Send all materials to:
Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities
805 West Pennsylvania Avenue, MC-057
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Letters of support should be mailed to this address; sent via fax to (217) 333-9617; or e-mailed to Christine Catanzarite at catanzar@illinois.edu. IMPORTANT: Please submit letters in one format only: if a letter is sent by e-mail or fax, do not also send a hard copy.
All applications will be acknowledged shortly following the deadline. Please do not contact the IPRH about the status of a file; because of the volume of applications that the IPRH receives, we cannot answer individual questions about materials that have been sent.
For more information about the IPRH fellowship program, please contact Christine Catanzarite at 244-7913 or catanzar@illinois.edu. Awards will be announced on or about February 1, 2010.