External Faculty Fellowships

Call for 2010-11 Fellowships

Receipt deadline: November 2, 2009 - This fellowship call is now closed.

Download the application as a PDF. Download the coversheet and checklist. Download the referee guide.

The Humanities Research Center at Rice University will award up to four external faculty fellowships for one-semester appointments during the academic year 2010-11. Fellows will receive a stipend of $40,000 to $50,000, depending on rank, as well as an allowance for research and relocation to be used during the appointment period. The fellows will teach one course affiliated with a humanities department and will be in residence at the center during their appointments.

The fellows participate in the intellectual life of the center by sharing research activities through a brown bag series with other HRC fellows, or through a presentation, or possibly participation in a symposium or conference sponsored by the HRC.  Applicants should describe how their research project would contribute to the intellectual community at Rice, including faculty research activity in the School of Humanities, participation in one or more of the HRC faculty workshops or interdisciplinary humanities initiatives such as the Americas Colloquium or Medical Humanities communities.

Criteria for selection

• The promise of the specific research project being proposed.
• The originality and intellectual distinction of the candidate’s previous work.
• The research project’s potential interest to scholars in different fields of the humanities.
• The applicant’s potential to contribute to the intellectual community at Rice and the HRC.

Selection Process

Each proposal is evaluated by an interdisciplinary committee comprised of the HRC Faculty Advisory Panel. Applicants will be notified of fellowship decisions in late December 2009.

Application Process

Applicants are welcome to email materials to hrc@rice.edu (subject: External Faculty Fellowship). Applicants are also welcome to send paper copies by mail or delivery.

• Cover sheet
• Curriculum vitae (limit 10 pages)
• 1000-word research project proposal and one-page bibliography. Please double-space and use 12-point type. In language appropriate for a multi-disciplinary panel of non-specialist readers, the proposal should
• explain the nature and significance of the project, including its impact on larger scholarly communities within and beyond the humanities.
• include a brief history of prior research or planning, past support, and future plans for the project.
• describe the scope and resource materials of the research, the main issues to be addressed, and the relationship of the research to other published and ongoing work in the field.
• 250-word statement of project’s potential contribution to one of the HRC’s faculty workshops, or an interdisciplinary humanities initiative, or  Rice faculty research activity in the School of Humanities.
• A brief course proposal for a one-semester undergraduate course

Recommendations

Two letters of reference, solicited by the applicant and sent by hard copy directly to the HRC are required. The most effective letters show a detailed knowledge of the candidate’s past work and address directly both the importance of the proposed project and the candidate’s qualifications to pursue it.  General praise is less helpful to the committee. Referees may be directed to our Fellowships Referee Guide, which may be downloaded and printed from our website.
Recommendation letters must be received by the HRC by the application deadline.  Consideration of letters received after that date cannot be guaranteed.

Eligibility

• Fellowships are awarded to support research projects in the humanities. This includes, but is not limited to history, philosophy, languages, literature, linguistics, religious studies, art history and the arts. Proposals employing humanistic approaches are welcome from anthropology and other social sciences, natural sciences, music, architecture, and engineering.
• Both junior and senior scholars with tenure or tenure-track appointments at colleges and universities other than Rice are eligible to apply. They must be at least three years beyond receipt of the PhD at the beginning of the fellowship term, (i.e. for 2010-11 fellowships, should have received PhD no later than July 1, 2007).
• In the event that a proposal is not funded, the candidate is welcome to resubmit an updated proposal in any subsequent year.
• Rice University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. Scholars who are members of traditionally under-represented groups are encouraged to apply.
• There is no citizenship requirement or restriction for this fellowship. Non-U.S. nationals are welcome to apply.
• Employment eligibility verifications requested upon hire.
• The fellowship position at Rice does not provide medical benefits.