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Stanford
Public Humanities
School of Humanities and Sciences

Public Knowledge Fellows

Stanford Public Humanities is proud to announce a new  Public Knowledge Fellowship for sixth or seventh-year doctoral candidates in the School of Humanities and Sciences who have demonstrated an interest in the creation and dissemination of humanistic knowledge to a wide public audience. Fellows will have the opportunity to develop a public-facing work of their own vision and to identify a specific community to receive or engage with this work. They will also have opportunities for regular mentorship with Associate Director for Student Programs Laura Goode on their public work.

The fellowship provides a stipend and TGR tuition support for Autumn, Winter, and Spring quarters. The stipend amount for 2024-25 will be announced once it has been determined.

We will offer one fellowship in 2024–25, with additional fellowships to be added in future years.

Eligibility Requirements:

  • Applicants must be current fifth or sixth-year doctoral candidates, in any department or program within Stanford’s School of Humanities and Sciences, whose research and public scholarship engage substantively with issues and methods in the humanities, arts, or qualitative social sciences. Priority will go to current fifth-year students.
  • While we welcome applicants from the arts, we are not currently equipped to mentor students who want to engage the public through works of creative art (e.g. performances, musical compositions, visual art, etc.).
  • Applicants must have:
    • Active Candidacy
    • Completed all requirements for the doctoral degree, including any required teaching, with the exception of the dissertation and the University Oral Examination (when a defense of the dissertation)
    • An approved dissertation reading committee
    • A dissertation proposal approved by their committee
    • A strong likelihood of completing the degree within the tenure of the fellowship.
  • Applicants must have previously taken Stanford Public Humanities’ cornerstone class “Pitching and Publishing in Popular Media” or else demonstrate equivalent experience.
  • Fellows may not hold a concurrent fellowship (such as the Mellon Fellowship). 
  • This fellowship is not deferrable to a subsequent year or summer quarter.
  • Fellows are not required or expected to teach during the duration of their fellowship. They may, however, take on either a concurrent research or teaching assistantship appointment up to a maximum of 25%, or hourly employment of up to 8 hours per week, but not both. See Administrative Guide 10.2.1 and 10.2.2 for more details. 
  • Students who are TGR or in a graduation quarter status must enroll in the appropriate zero unit TGR course.

Application

Applications must be submitted via our online application system by Wednesday May 8, 2024, at 11:59 PM Pacific time. We discourage the submission of additional materials with the application and cannot circulate these to the committee or return such materials.

Applications will be reviewed by Stanford Public Humanities staff, along with the H&S Senior Associate Dean for Humanities and Arts.

Applicants will be notified when their applications have been received, and will be notified of the fellowship outcome by May 20.   

Applications must include:

  • Basic student information, including contact info, department, planned graduation date, and any other fellowships you’ve applied for or received. 
  • Curriculum vitae (CV)
  • Current unofficial transcript (download from AXESS)
  • Detailed timetable for the completion of the degree (e.g. dissertation outline detailing status of each chapter)
  • Personal Statement (800 words or less): What are your research goals and priorities, and how would the Public Knowledge Fellowship support them?
  • A letter of reference from the applicant’s dissertation advisor. The letter should address the student’s prior experience and promise as a public scholar, the quality of their research, and their progress towards degree completion (referencing the criteria listed above). Letters must be received by the application deadline—consideration of letters received after that date cannot be guaranteed.

Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

  • Excellence of the student’s research.
  • Plausibility of the student being able to bring their research knowledge to a broader public.
  • The likelihood of completing the dissertation within the tenure of the fellowship.

Apply Here

Questions? Email Jeff Schwegman: jschweg [at] stanford.edu (jschweg[at]stanford[dot]edu) and Laura Goode: legoode [at] stanford.edu (legoode[at]stanford[dot]edu)