Limited Submission Opportunity: Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminars 2024
URL: https://www.mellon.org/article/sawyer-seminars
OBJECTIVES:
The Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminars program was established in 1994 to support comparative research on historical and contemporary topics of scholarly significance.
To observe the program’s 30th year, at a time when universities and humanities study are facing a myriad of unprecedented challenges, we are reorienting the 2024 competition and beyond from the study of comparative cultures to the study of major social and political challenges that directly impact the structures, policies, and practices of the American university. This shift in focus celebrates the Sawyer Seminars’ original mission of elevating critical scholarship while also reframing it for our present moment. We seek to fund humanities-grounded seminars wherein multidisciplinary teams of faculty and other academic leaders collaboratively address timely issues affecting their campuses.
The subject to be considered this year is academic freedom and democracy in the American university. Mellon and the Higher Learning program are fundamentally interested in the themes of social and racial justice.
FUNDING INFORMATION:
Up to $300,000. Each seminar normally meets for one year.
Funds may support: one postdoc; up to two dissertation research fellows (in the form of graduate tuition or supplemental funding); travel and living expenses for short stays by visiting scholars; costs associated with coordinating seminars, including meals, honoraria, consulting fees, and stipends. There are no required expenditures.
ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS:
BU may submit one proposal. Faculty participants have largely come from the humanities and social sciences, although faculty members in the arts and from professional schools have also been key participants in a number of seminars.
INTERNAL SELECTION PROCESS:
Interested investigators should submit the following materials via InfoReady Review by: 11/3/2024
- Paragraph describing your project’s fit with Mellon Foundation
- Paragraph describing why you’re the best candidate from BU for this opportunity
- 1-page Project Proposal including information about the cases to be studied and the humanities methodologies brought to them
- Brief anticipated budget in table format
- Up-to-date CV (1-2 pages)
You can also review the Meet the Funded workshop BU hosted for Mellon Foundation and review the past Sawyer Seminar programs on their website.
Foundation Relations will work with the nominees to develop and submit the institutional nomination letter and applicant materials 11/20/2024.
DEADLINES:
Internal Materials Due: Sunday, November 3, 2024 by 11:59 pm
Proposal Submission Deadline: Wednesday, November 20, 2024