Call for Participants for 2016 Mellon Public Scholars Program

The UC Davis Humanities Institute has released the Call for Proposals for the 2016 Mellon Public Scholars Program. Click here for the CFP.

The Mellon Public Scholars Program invites 10 graduate students in the humanities and humanistic social sciences to participate in a quarter-long seminar in spring 2016 that introduces them to the intellectual and practical aspects of public humanities scholarship. Each student will also be paired with a faculty mentor to develop a community-based research project and spend the summer following the seminar working with the community partner they identify in their project.

To answer questions and provide more details about the program, the Humanities Institute will host two information sessions: Wednesday, Nov. 4, 12:10 PM and Thursday, Nov. 12, 4:10 PM in Voorhies 228 (DHI’s conference room). We encourage both faculty and students interested in the program to attend. Lunch and snacks provided. Please RSVP to Rachel Reeves (rlreeves@ucdavis.edu).

The UC Davis Humanities Institute will host a launch event for the Public Scholars Program on Monday, March 7, 2016.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded the UC Davis Humanities Institute $400,000 to inaugurate the program, which will support community-engaged scholarship and provide experience for graduate students interested in diverse careers. “We are tremendously honored to again receive such exceptional recognition by the Mellon Foundation for a program in the arts and humanities,” said Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi. “This is a truly exciting, innovative and collaborative program that will have a vital and long-lasting impact on our students and faculty alike, and we are so proud that the Mellon Foundation will be a part of bringing it to life.”

While other universities have developed public humanities programs and offer degrees or certificates in the public humanities, few combine the research-oriented goals of nurturing public scholarship with professional development for graduate students. The Public Scholars seminar at UC Davis will provide students with training in areas such as project management, digital methods and communication at the same time they are developing new research skills.

“The Public Scholars Program will take the Humanities Institute into new territory since it has the potential to foster innovation across the humanities at UC Davis. We’re especially excited and hopeful about this opportunity since it reimagines, and reaffirms, what humanities centers can do,” said David Biale, the Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor and institute director.

The institute is also the home of the Mellon Research Initiatives in the Humanities, a program that supports interdisciplinary collaborations around societal issues such as social justice and environmental humanities. In 2014, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation renewed its commitment to the Mellon Research Initiatives in the Humanities with an additional $1.725 million grant that will support four new Mellon groups over the next seven years.