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These two-year fellowships are part of a Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar on “Restoring Trust: Humanistic Perspectives on Academic Freedom, US American Democracy, and Higher Education Leadership.” The seminar explores how humanities scholars and administrators can collaboratively address challenges that arise when universities seek to promote free and open conversations about controversial social justice topics and how this collaboration can help rebuild trust within universities and contribute to the future of higher education in a polarized US American democracy. This graduate fellowship is hosted by the Center for Humanities & the Arts; the Sawyer Seminar, as a whole, is led by the Office of Faculty Affairs in partnership with the CHA, the Office for Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship, Strategic Relations and Communications, and others.

Graduate fellows will participate in a cohort of 20-25 faculty, administrators, and students involved in seminar activities. Each graduate fellow will receive a summer stipend of $5,000 per year for each of the two years of the fellowship. Graduate fellows will be able to build expertise and skills connected to their academic interests and professional trajectories, including experience with public-facing humanities programs and training in communicating with diverse publics.

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Participate, alongside faculty and administrator cohort members, in three project activities over the course of two academic years (AY 2026-27 and AY 2027-28):

● Seminar sessions on topics including higher education and democracy, academic freedom and free speech, and specific policy dilemmas facing universities. We anticipate there will be approximately eight seminar meetings during AY 2026-2027.��

● Institutional engagement meetings in which cohort members meet with other campus administrators and leaders to deepen their understanding of ���������� Boulder operations and build relationships that can support collaborative initiatives.��We anticipate there will be 2 meetings during AY 2026-2027 and 3 meetings during AY 2027-2028)

● Small working groups, each of which will also involve faculty and administrators, and each of which will develop and implement a collaborative initiative or generate a collaborative product—such as a public-facing program or new course or professional development workshop—focused on academic freedom and democratic life.��(Details to be determined by each working group)

ELIGIBILITY:

Fellowships are open to current ���������� Boulder doctoral students—including those enrolled in a department or college outside ones traditionally associated with the arts and humanities—who meet the following three requirements:

1. Students must have defended their dissertation proposal/prospectus on or before June 1, 2026. Priority will be given to students who can demonstrate that their research is related to the Sawyer Seminar theme of democracy, higher education, academic freedom, and/or leadership.

2. Students must employ humanistic modes of inquiry in their research.��Doctoral applicants who come from units outside of traditional arts and humanities fields should amply demonstrate how their project engages with multi- and inter-disciplinary arts and humanities theories, methods, and/or archives.

3. Students must be enrolled at ���������� Boulder for the full period of the fellowship (Summer 2026 – Spring 2028) and are expected to participate, fully, in the Seminar for AY 2026-27 and AY 2027-28.

FUNDING:

Each fellow will receive a summer stipend of $5,000 per year for each of the two years of the fellowship (for a total of $10,000 over two years); the fellowship offers additional funding for research and professional development. Moreover, each working group will be eligible to apply for funding to support its proposed project. Students who are selected for this fellowship cannot also hold a CHA summer fellowship. Awards will be distributed in June for Summer 2026 with the understanding that students will participate in the Sawyer Mellon Fellowship meetings for AY-2026-27. Failure to do so will result in students refunding the $5,000 to the Sawyer Seminar. Similarly, students will receive a summer stipend in Summer 2027 with the understanding that they will participate in meetings for AY 2027-28.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

To apply, please use the Center for Humanities & the Arts application portal and be ready to submit the following materials on or before��Monday, April 6, 2026.

1. Current CV – no more than 8 pages please. Since you will cut and paste, please try to use plain text since the formatting will not come through.

2. Statement detailing your interest in the fellowship, your commitment to the humanities, and the alignment between your research interests and the topic of this Sawyer Seminar. Your statement should be between 900-1,200 words. Again, you will cut and paste this into the box on the application portal.

3. The name and email of your PhD advisor (preferred) or the name and email of a PhD committee member – we will contact faculty to ask for a letter of reference for finalists.

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