Application Guidelines

The School of Arts and Sciences is launching the first year of the continuation of the Mellon Foundation postdoctoral teaching fellowship program in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences. (This program is separate from the Penn Humanities Forum Mellon Postdoctoral program). We hope to attract young scholars to Penn for research while also giving them the opportunity to teach in some of the best humanities and social science departments in the nation. These postdoctoral fellows, who will serve a term of two years, will be departmentally based and housed and will be expected to be on campus during the academic year (September – May) of the two years of their fellowship.

The fellows will teach one course a semester for the two years of their appointment at Penn. These courses should include a wide range of teaching experiences at Penn, with a preference for general education courses, including freshman seminars and interdisciplinary courses.

In the first five years of the program (2002-2007) we appointed a total of fourteen fellows. In the first year of the new program (2007-2008) we will appoint four fellows, followed by four more in 2008-2009, then three additional fellows each year in 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, with the program terminating with the second year of the final three fellows in 2011-2012. Thus, there will be four fellows in 2007-2008, eight in 2008-2009, seven in 2009-2010, six in 2010-2011, and three in 2011-2012. Eligibility is limited to applicants who have received the Ph.D. within two years prior to the time they would begin their appointment at Penn. Penn Ph.D.’s are eligible.

Applicants will be asked to specify the department where they would like to teach, and to indicate their own preferences for a faculty mentor (with a list of three possibilities). The department and the Dean’s Office will find the best fit between an applicant and a mentor on the basis of faculty willingness and research interests. A mentor will be asked to agree to serve and to “sponsor” the applicant in the competition. The quality of match between sponsor and applicant will be an important criterion in the choice of applicant.

The fellows will be provided with an office by their departments; the Mellon funds will pay to provide them with a computer and printer. The chair and undergraduate chair of the department will work with each fellow on matters of teaching. However, as indicated above, each fellow will also be assigned a faculty mentor closely connected with the area of his or her research; that mentor will be responsible for ensuring that the fellow is connected to the research resources and community at Penn. The fellows will also be affiliated with the Penn Humanities Forum and be invited to take a place in all of its activities, including the weekly seminars and programs. While the Fellows will thus be closely attached to their departments and involved in departmental activities, they will also be connected to a wider community of humanities scholarship at Penn.

The stipend for 2007-2008 is $45,600. The fellows will also have a one-time $5,000 budget for research support during the two years of their appointment, to be used for research travel, conference travel, publication expenses, or stipends to student research assistants. They will receive single health insurance.

We are delighted that the Mellon Foundation has given us this opportunity to widen the intellectual community and support our best teaching programs in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Application process.

Completed application form, reference letters and supporting materials must be postmarked no later than February 28, 2007. Please mail application to:

E. Ann Matter

Associate Dean for Humanities

Office of the Dean

School of Arts and Sciences

University of Pennsylvania

116 College Hall

Philadelphia, PA 19104-6377

Application:

1. Name (Last Name, First Name, Middle Initial)

2. Home Address (Street, Apt. #, City, State/Country, Zip Code)

3. Home Telephone Number

4. Office Telephone Number

5. Email Address (Home and Office, if different)

Please complete questions 6-7 if you are an international scholar applying from abroad.

6. Country of Citizenship

7. Country of Permanent Residence

8. Current Position (Indicate your title, department, institution, and full address). If you are not employed, please state what you are currently doing.

9. Education (list each degree, month and year conferred, and institution)

10. Applicant’s Disciplinary Field

11. Please write course descriptions single-spaced (one page each) of 2 courses you would like to teach at Penn. One should be a Freshman Seminar (see [http://www.college.upenn.edu/courses/index.html] for examples).

12. Please give the title of your proposed research study and a description (no more than 1,000 words).

13. Please identify briefly which faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania might serve as a mentor for the completion of your project as described (you do not need to contact the faculty yourself).

14. Teaching Experience. (Please list names of institutions, positions held, and dates when held.)

15. Fellowships and Scholarships received

16. Referees. Please provide the names and addresses of three (3) referees whom you have asked to provide references. The referees should be asked both to comment on your proposed project and to discuss your qualifications as a teacher. Letters should be sent to E. Ann Matter, Associate Dean for Humanities, Office of the Dean, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, 116 College Hall, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6377. You may substitute a dossier from a University dossier service.

17. Publications. List your publications indicating with an asterisk which are refereed.

18. Writing sample: include an article or excerpt of a book or dissertation chapter (20 page limit).