Fellowships Intro

Fellowships provide resources to faculty members during their research leaves. These include opportunities to stay and work at another institution or direct financial support for projects undertaken here in Chicago.

Fellowships have a longer sponsor review period than grants, so it is necessary to begin considering applications by September 1st of the year before a faculty member’s leave begins, and ideally as early as Spring Quarter. Please keep in mind that a third quarter of research leave is typically contingent on fellowship funding (ideally covering 50% of the faculty member's base salary or a minimum award of $50k). For further information, please refer to the Humanities Division Research Leave Policy.

For additional details on faculty fellowships, please see below.

To apply for a fellowship—whether or not you have already identified a funding source—please contact Courtney Guerra (773-834-5827) to discuss your project.

For questions about awarded grants, please contact Nadine Clark (773-834-4675).

Fellowships exist to afford scholars and artists the time, funds, access, and space that they need to undertake projects.

Some residential fellowships offer scholars and artists an opportunity to work on a project in a picturesque setting that is a respite from regular life (e.g., The Bogliasco Fellowship Program at the Luguria Study Center in Genoa, Italy, or The Camargo Foundation Fellowship Program in the South of France).

Other residential fellowships provide access to special collections, such as the Folger Shakespeare Library Research Fellowship Program or the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art’s Senior Fellowship Program.

Still others afford scholars an opportunity to live and work in residence at some of the world’s most acclaimed institutions of higher learning. Some residential fellowships are thematic, and they bring together like-minded fellows to network and share their ideas with one another.

Non-residential fellowships provide funds to help a scholar's or artist’s home university recover the costs incurred by his or her research leave.

As you will see, some organizations provide fellowships in support of a broad spectrum of projects pertaining to humanistic inquiry; others support projects that pursue a specific line of inquiry or enable a fellow to undertake a specific activity.

Generally you should begin thinking about your strategy approximately a year-and-a-half before the academic year in which you plan to be on leave. Thus, if you are planning to take leave in 2020–21, you should begin strategizing and contact Courtney in early 2019. She would be delighted to work with you to find fellowships that fit your needs.

Bear in mind that fellowship proposals ought to be fully prepared at least a week before the deadline if not earlier. You should be prepared early in the event that something arises that would preclude your submission.

Note also that fellowships require reference letters. You should contact your potential referees at least a month in advance of the deadline. In some cases, the organization requests that they send their letter by a certain date, either by the application deadline or by a date that follows shortly thereafter. In others, the organization will contact them after you have submitted the proposal.