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Mellon-Mays Fellowship

Download the 2008-2009 Mellon-Mays Fellowship application.

The Mellon Mays Fellowship Program aims to increase the number of individuals from underrepresented minority groups in faculty positions at colleges and universities. The Mellon Foundation is especially interested in encouraging Mellon Fellows to earn doctorate degrees in the disciplines below.

Anthropology Ecology Mathematics
Area Studies English Musicology
Art History Ethnomusicology Philosophy
Classics Foreign Languages Physics
Computer Science Geology Political Theory
Demography History Religion
Earth Science Literature Sociology

Eligible students include African American, Latino, American Indian, or other students with a demonstrated commitment to the goals of the program and to eradicating racial disparities in higher education. Sophomores who are currently enrolled in or interested in designated disciplines at Brown may be eligible to apply to become Mellon Undergraduate Fellows.

Each Mellon Mays fellow is required to conduct an individual research project under the guidance of a faculty mentor beginning in the summer after the sophomore year. Research continues through the junior and senior years and must include the summer prior to the last year of undergraduate study. Such research helps prepare Mellon Fellows for graduate study in their chosen discipline. Fellows who remain in good standing with the program receive a stipend for each of the two summers of their fellowship and for each semester of their junior and senior years.

Mellon Fellows participate in a seminar series designed to provide information about and discussion of a range of issues pertinent to the graduate school application process, including research issues, financial considerations, and practical concerns facing minority students contemplating academic careers. Fellows gather in an informal setting at least once a month as a group to discuss their progress and their experiences. Fellows also travel to scholarly meetings to present their research projects, to visit research libraries, or to attend meetings relevant to their research. If a Mellon Undergraduate Fellow enrolls as a full-time student in an eligible Ph.D. program within three years of graduating from Brown, the Fellow may have up to $10,000 of his or her undergraduate student loans repaid by the Mellon Foundation.

For more information, contact Dean Besenia Rodriguez, Coordinator of the Mellon Mays Program.