The Office of the Provost invites internal applications for the Mellon Foundation New Directions Fellowship. UWM may nominate one candidate, to be selected through an internal review process.
This program supports humanities and humanistic social science faculty who seek formal training outside their areas of specialization to pursue advanced, cross-disciplinary research. It enables scholars to acquire new competencies that foster innovative and effective ways of bringing humanistic knowledge to address societal challenges. Proposed projects must represent inquiry into a new area of intellectual inquiry and not just an enhancement to go further in the primary field. Language study, technical training, or skills acquisition, such as GIS mapping, do not, by themselves, constitute a new direction.
More information about the program, including example application materials, is available at https://mellon.app.box.com/s/fclv3fwedrhj08iv8jjd9c88lge8dm8d/folder/341759567039.
Award Information
- Up to $300,000 over three years
- Funds may be used for salary, training costs (tuition, fees, housing), conference travel, and specialized equipment
Internal Timeline
- November 11, 2025: Applications due to the Office of the Provost (bilengre@uwm.edu)
- December 11, 2025: Full proposal and materials of the selected finalist submitted to Mellon Foundation
Internal Application Requirements:
- Letter of recommendation from the nominee’s department chair or another senior colleague addressing the nominee’s preparation and how the proposed “new direction” relates to current research and pedagogy
- Project Description and Significance explaining the overall importance of the proposed research and how the new direction will advance the field (maximum of 2,000 words)
- Short CV (maximum of 5 pages)
Eligibility
- Faculty in the humanities or humanistic social sciences
- Must have received PhD between 2013 and 2019 (MFAs and EdDs are ineligible)
- Research interests call for formal training in a new discipline
Selection Criteria (from Mellon Foundation)
- Originality and significance of the research
- Appropriateness of the proposed training program
- Case for the importance of extra-disciplinary training
- Likely ability of the candidate to derive satisfactory results from the training program proposed within a reasonable time frame
- Potential for long-term impact on the candidate’s new or proposed field of study, beyond just the individual’s research
- Record of the nominee, including their history of effectively advancing public-facing and/or community-engaged work
- For retraining departing from the humanities, evidence that the proposed interdisciplinary approach reflects an enduring humanities perspective