A generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation enabled the University to establish The Hanna Holborn Gray Fellowship in Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences in 2005–06. The fellowship honors Mrs. Gray, president emerita of the University, and is given in recognition of her dedicated efforts to improve and sustain graduate education at the University and beyond and of her own notable achievements as a scholar. The fellowship is designated to support the very best PhD students in the second half of their graduate studies at the University. The award provides support for a period of three years. One fellowship is awarded each year in the Division of the Humanities and one in the Division of the Social Sciences. The fellowship provides full tuition, a stipend of $20,000 per year, required fees, and University student health insurance on the Basic plan.

Purpose

The Gray Fellowship is meant to support students in both the penultimate and final phases of graduate study, beginning in the period when the dissertation proposal is being developed and carrying through the time of write-up and final completion of the dissertation. As with divisional dissertation-year fellowships (Harper, Mellon), students holding Gray Fellowships will be ineligible for subsequent funding through the University upon completion of the award. The Gray award will replace any current Divisional fellowship.

Eligibility

Each department nominates one student who is currently in the third year of study. Third-year students in all doctoral programs in Social Sciences are eligible except for Economics and Psychology, which the Mellon Foundation does not consider humanistic social science disciplines. Basic criteria include successful completion of all coursework, language requirements, and qualifying examinations by the end of the current academic year. An approved dissertation proposal is not required, but nominees are asked to submit a general essay on the topic area proposed for the dissertation.

Timeline

Departmental nominations are due in the Dean of Students office in late April. The Deans of Students announce winners of the Gray Fellowship in June.