Graduate-Student Applicants
The center will grant support for an entire academic year to two graduate students who have completed all the requirements for the PhD, save writing the dissertation, and have applied successfully to the center's fellowship program. The graduate-student fellows will be in residence in the center for the entire academic year, will devote themselves full time to their work in the center, and will not engage in any teaching and/or tutoring. The graduate-student fellows will have the same access and amenities as the faculty fellows, including private offices during their tenure.
A p p l i c a t i o n P r o c e s s
The deadline for applying to the center's fellowship program is December 2 of the current calendar year. Instructions for applying are given below and are also available here as a PDF document. We believe that this exciting new venture dedicated to helping those faculty members and graduate students working in the humanities will attract many applicants, so prospective applicants should not hesitate to contact us for further information.
University of Tennessee Humanities Center (hereafter THC)
Application for Graduate Student Fellowship
1.Cover page
(A) Include a cover page with your application. The page should list your name, department, year in the program, prospective title of your dissertation, email address, year for which you are applying to be resident in the Center and your major advisor's name.
(B) Applicants must be full-time graduate students at the University of Tennessee who have completed all the requirements for the PhD, e.g., course work, comprehensive and language exams save writing the PhD dissertation. We expect that every successful applicant will complete writing the dissertation no later than 31 August of the following calendar year.
2. Letters of Support
(A) Provide a letter from your department head stating that you will be excused from all teaching for the semester in the academic year which you are seeking the fellowship from the THC.
(B) Please provide a letter of recommendation from your PhD dissertation director indicating their belief that the dissertation will be finished during the period of your residence in the THC.
3. CV
Your application should provide a two-page CV.
4. External Fellowships
If you have applied for any external funding during your time at the University of Tennessee please state where and for what purpose.
5. Application Requirements
Your application should detail your proposed dissertation project and state how the time at the THC will lead to its completion. Your application should provide an intellectual justification for your project and it should not assume specialized knowledge and should be free of technical terms and jargon. The narrative part of your application must not exceed five (5) typed pages in 12 point Times New Roman and should be double-spaced. Your application may include a one-page single spaced bibliography and lastly a timetable detailing your expected progress during the academic year you are in residence in the THC. An appendix can be used if you have need to illustrate a translation project or art work. External examiners will review all applications.
6. Residence in TCH
All successful applicants will be required to work daily in the personal office provided in the THC during the length of the tenure of their fellowship. You will be provided with a private office.
7. Faculty Seminars
All successful applicants will be encouraged to sit in on one of the on-going faculty seminars being held in the THC, if appropriate to your subject. Each fellow will make a public presentation of their research during the year of their residency. The time and date of their presentation will be decided during their stay.
8. Deadlines
All completed applications must be received electronically in the THC office by the close of the workday December 2, and applicants will be notified in the first week of February. Late applications will not be considered.
9. Address
Please send all applications electronically as attachments to Professor Thomas J. Heffernan, Kenneth Curry Professor of English and Director of The University of Tennessee Humanities Center. His email address is theff@utk.edu.