Humanities Center Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

The Humanities Center and the Graduate School are proud to announce their collaboration on funding the Humanities Center Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. This annual fellowship will award $25,000 to a humanities or arts doctoral candidate in the final stages of writing their dissertation. This award will be dispensed as a monthly stipend between August 2025 and April 2026.  The recipient will also receive medical benefits, tuition remission (up to 10 credits), and a dedicated office in the Humanities Center with access to a computer, printer, and office supplies.  Proposals will be adjudicated on the merit of the dissertation project, its potential impact on one or more scholarly fields, and its relevance to the humanities more generally. 

The defining characteristic of this program is its residential nature.  The recipient will meet monthly with other residential fellows to share their works-in-progress in a research seminar that will be open to the broader university community.  The Center provides recipients with office space, in the expectation that they will hold regular office hours to facilitate collaboration and conversation.  In doing so, the Humanities Center aims to create a community of humanities and arts faculty from different disciplines working in the same physical space at roughly the same time. This arrangement will facilitate the formation of valuable research networks, promote interdisciplinary collaborations and joint grant applications, and support the development of collegiality across humanities departments and units on campus.

Please note: If your project involves human subjects or animals, you must secure IRB approval before applying for this fellowship opportunity.

2024-2025 Doctoral Dissertation application form

Doctoral Dissertation Judging Criteria

Sample Funded Project Narrative

Apply to the 2024-2025 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

Applications are due by March 21, 2025.

Eligibility

All doctoral candidates in the humanities, arts, or related disciplines who meet the following criteria are eligible to submit proposals:

1. They are enrolled in good standing as a PhD candidate in the humanities, arts, or related disciplines at Wayne State.
2. Their dissertation topic, outline, and prospectus have been approved by their dissertation committee and the Graduate School by the application deadline.
3. They have completed all requirements for the PhD, except for the dissertation.
4. They are already in the process of writing the dissertation.
5. They will complete the dissertation and the final defense by the end of Spring/Summer 2025 or shortly thereafter.

Conditions

Each Humanities Center Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship recipient must agree to:

1. Establish office hours at least twice a week for a minimum of three hours per session; or three times per week for two hours per session.
   This is the central requirement of the program since it provides the opportunity for residents to interact frequently, and thus, to influence each other's work and develop collaborative projects.
2. Spend their office hours working on their research project, or interacting with other resident scholars having office hours.
3. Participate in monthly research seminars with other resident scholars.
4. Discuss their projects in a research seminar sponsored by the Center before the end of the fellowship period.
5. Submit an end-of-year report on their project to the Humanities Center.
6. Acknowledge the Humanities Center’s support within the dissertation itself.

Additionally, the recipient of the fellowship cannot hold a teaching position or have other major employment.

Guidelines for Proposals

Each proposal must consist of a narrative of no more than 1800 words (excluding the application cover page, bibliography, professional record, evidence that the dissertation proposal has been approved, and evidence of IRB approval, if required).

The body of the proposal must include the following elements:

1. A completed application cover page.

2. A project narrative, divided into sections with the following titles:

• Statement of purpose
• Significance and contribution to field
• Theoretical framework and/or methodology
• Project overview (including chapter breakdown)
• Project timeline for grant period
• Relation of the project to the humanities (For the Center’s definition of the humanities, click here.)

3. A bibliography of relevant sources (not to exceed one page).

4. The professional record and contact information of the applicant.

5. Two confidential letters of recommendation in support of the dissertation.  Referees must submit their letters directly to to Jaime Goodrich, Director of the Humanities Center, at dz2649@wayne.edu.  One letter must be from your dissertation advisor.  Both letters must arrive by the deadline.

6. Evidence that the applicant’s dissertation proposal has been approved by their dissertation committee and the Graduate School.

7. Evidence of IRB approval, if the dissertation project involves human subjects or animals.