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Stanford Graduate Students

"I received an inside look at various aspects of the profession, to which graduate students are usually not privy, including academic publishing, marketing one's self and one's book idea, departmental politics, and how to survive the first years of an assistant professorship."

-Bill Leidy, Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellow 2010-11

The Humanities Center and the School of Humanities and Sciences collaborate to administer the four Stanford humanities dissertation fellowships: the Geballe, Whiting, Lieberman, and Mellon Fellowships. Stanford students submit one application to be considered for one or more of these fellowships; however, please note that required application materials, eligiblity, and selection criteria are different for each fellowship. These are also subject to change each academic year.

The deadline for 2012-13 applications has passed. Notify me when new applications are available.
Fellowship Opportunities
  • Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships[+]
    The Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships, endowed by Theodore and Frances Geballe, are awarded to doctoral students whose work is of the highest distinction and promise. The fellowship stipend for 2011-12 is $24,000 plus TGR fees. The recipients of these fellowships have offices at the Humanities Center and take part with other graduate and faculty fellows in the Center's programs, promoting humanistic research and education at Stanford. The Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships also provide an additional $2,000 in research funding.
  • Whiting Fellowships[+]
    The Whiting Fellowships, endowed by Mrs. Giles Whiting, are intended for doctoral students whose work is of the highest distinction and promise. Stanford is one of seven universities with distinguished graduate programs in the humanities who receive yearly grants from the Whiting Foundation to support their best scholars as they complete their dissertations. The fellowship stipend for 2011-12 is $25,500 plus TGR fees. The Whiting Fellowship also provides a $2,500 grant in aid during the fellowship year.
  • Mellon Foundation Dissertation Fellowships[+]
    The Mellon Dissertation Fellowships, which are generously funded by the Mellon Foundation, are awarded to advanced doctoral students whose work is of the highest quality and whose academic record to date indicates a timely progression toward completion of the degree. The 2011-12 stipend for the Mellon Fellowships is $23,500 plus TGR fees.
  • G.J. Lieberman Fellowships[+]
    The Lieberman Fellowships will be awarded to outstanding advanced doctoral students who intend to pursue a career in university teaching and research and who have demonstrated the potential for leadership roles in the academic community. The 2010-11 award was $31,200 plus TGR fees.
  • Eligibility[+]
    The Geballe, Whiting, and Mellon Dissertation Fellowships are awarded to advanced graduate students, based on accomplished work of the highest distinction, and on the promise of further outstanding achievements in the humanities. The Lieberman Fellowship also requires a distinguished record of university teaching.

    1. Applicants must have advanced to Ph.D. candidacy.
    2. Applicants must have completed all requirements for the Ph.D., other than the dissertation (and its defense in departments where the University Oral Examination is such a defense). This includes handling any incompletes.
    3. Applicants must have a formally composed dissertation committee.
    4. Applicants must have a dissertation proposal approved by their committee.
    5. Applicants must have a strong likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship.
    6. Applicants must have reached TGR status by the beginning of autumn quarter 2012-13.
    7. Applicants must have completed supervised teaching, if required by their department, before the tenure of the fellowship.
  • Requirements[+]
    1. No other employment, assistantship, or fellowship (unless specifically intended for travel or research expense) may be held concurrently. Exceptions to this restriction must be approved by the Humanities Center Director (for Geballe Fellows) or Ayodele Thomas (for Whiting, Mellon, and Lieberman Fellows).
    2. Geballe Fellows are strongly encouraged to live within ten miles of Stanford and take part in the life of the Center for the duration of their fellowship.
    3. Applicants who have previously held one of these fellowships are not eligible to reapply for that same fellowship (for example: a previous Whiting recipient may not apply again for a Whiting, but may apply for a Mellon, Geballe, and/or Lieberman).
    4. Applicants who have not previously held a Stanford dissertation fellowship will be given the most serious consideration.
    5. Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships are the only dissertation fellowships in the humanities that are open to applicants from the School of Education.
    6. Lieberman applicants should also provide evidence of teaching ability including a teaching statement. Please see application for further instructions.
  • Application Process[+]
    Applications should be submitted via our online application system. Access to the system will open in August. If you would like to receive a notice when the online application system opens, please click here. All applications must be in English. We discourage the submission of additional materials with your application and cannot return such materials to you.

    Applicants will be notified when their applications have been received, and will be notified of the fellowship competition outcome in late March.
  • Application Content[+]
    1. Contact and biographical information about the applicant
    2. A curriculum vitae (C.V.)
    3. Current unofficial transcript (AXESS upload or printout)
    4. Timetable for your completion of the degree
    5. A statement of significance. Please provide a concise statement on the significance of your research topic (100-word maximum).
    6. A brief description (no more than 1,000 words) of a research project.
    7. Two reference letters. One should be from your advisor. Referees are encouraged to submit letters through our online application system. Referees who wish to submit their letter of reference via email may send them to [email protected]. Reference letters must be received at the Center by the application deadline - consideration of letters received after that date cannot be guaranteed.
    8. For Lieberman applicants only: Teaching statement (1-2 pages), information on courses taught‚ and teaching evaluation summary sheets for three courses.
  • Application Criteria[+]
    A selection committee representing humanities departments and programs will review and rank the applications on the basis of the following criteria:

    1. The evidence of intellectual distinction
    2. The quality and precision of the dissertation proposal
    3. The applicant's timely progress toward the degree
    4. The likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship
    5. In the case of Geballe applicants, the likelihood of the applicant contributing to, as well as benefiting from, the programs of the Humanities Center
    6. In the case of Lieberman fellowships, the applicant's promise as a scholar, teacher, and leader in the academic community

    For more information on the Geballe Dissertation Prize Fellowships, contact Robert Barrick, the Humanities Center fellowship administrator, 723.3054.

    For more information on the Whiting, Mellon Foundation, and G.J. Lieberman fellowships, contact Ayodele Thomas, the Assistant Dean for Graduate & Undergraduate Studies and Diversity Programs, 724.3712.
The deadline for 2012-13 applications has passed. Notify me when new applications are available.