Academics
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program
Application Information
Deadline
All MMUF applications must be submitted to Gen Creedon in the Africana Studies Office, Russwurm Center, by 4:00 p.m. on March 7, 2008. Late applications will not be accepted.
MMUF is designed to help increase the diversity within doctoral programs in the humanities and selected social and natural sciences. The fellowship is open to all students—regardless of race and ethnicity—who are committed to promoting diversity within the academy by pursuing doctoral degrees in Mellon-designated fields (listed below).
In the spring of their sophomore year, qualified students are invited to apply to the program. Applicants must complete an application form by early March, including a personal essay, a research/paper proposal, and faculty recommendations. Applicants must consult with potential faculty mentors as part of the application process, and may consult with the Mellon faculty coordinator to review their applications before submission. Interviews are usually conducted shortly after spring break. Students are selected based on their academic records, the promise of their research proposals, their intentions to pursue doctoral degrees, and their faculty recommendations. Students from any major may be accepted into the program, but preference is given to qualified applicants majoring in Mellon-designated fields. Applications from students in other majors who plan to go on to graduate school will also be seriously considered.
Bowdoin can select up to five Mellon fellows each year. While we may select students pursuing non-Mellon-designated fields, only students who go on to doctoral programs in the Mellon fields can benefit in the loan repayment program described below.
The program begins the summer after the sophomore year and continues through junior year, the summer after the junior year and the senior year. Once accepted, each student will begin working on their summer research projects with their selected mentors. Mentors assist students in fulfilling their research goals, learning about the current issues in the field, the state of research, the current methodologies, and key figures in the field. If appropriate, the student will be encouraged to attend a professional meeting with the mentor. The mentor and the student should also begin discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of various graduate schools. At the end of the first summer of the MMUF Program fellows present their research to an audience of Bowdoin faculty and administrators, and the Upward Bound Bridge Students. Fellows are also asked to submit a 10-12 page research paper on their work.
Workshops beginning in the late spring of the sophomore year and going through the summer prepare students for both of these program requirements. The summer begins with a retreat for fellows and mentors to discuss their work and goals for the summer. The fellows work actively with their mentors every week, as well participating in a variety of workshops and discussion groups focused on their research and writing processes. The first of these workshops, with Elizabeth Barnhart, Director of the Baldwin Center within the Center for Teaching and Learning, focuses on time management and research strategies. This is followed by workshops with writing and oral communications consultants at Bowdoin, including Kathleen O’Connor, Director of the Writing Project. In the final weeks of the program, students work individually and as a group with MMUF writing and oral communications tutors, rehearsing their talks, and reading each other’s drafts, and getting in-depth feedback. The fellows then separately meet with the faculty coordinator for additional response to their writing in preparation for the colloquium and final drafts. The MMUF coordinator also sets up some formal panels for the fellows to hear about a range of faculty work, and some informal gatherings with faculty so that the students can ask questions about academic life and build additional alliances beyond their mentors with faculty who can help them in their academic endeavors. In addition to the writing-focused sessions, the fellows meet with the Bowdoin Career Planning Center to begin familiarizing themselves with the process of applying to graduate school, and the Financial Aid Office offers a workshop on financing graduate education.
The summer after the junior year is spent preparing for the senior year. Fellows are strongly encouraged to contact scholars on other campuses, and when appropriate, take their research to other campuses that can serve the fellows’ projects. Fellows may also participate in MMUF Programs at other campuses. This work typically evolves into a senior year honors project, or a senior thesis written for an independent study, or, perhaps, collaboration that would result in the fellows being listed as a co-author on the mentor’s published work. The senior project can qualify for academic credit by arrangement with an appropriate department. The main purpose of the second Mellon summer is for the fellows to refine their academic profiles in preparation for their applications to graduate school. Each fellow will also receive help in the preparation of graduate school applications.
The Mellon program encourages students to go on to doctoral programs within 39 months of graduation. Even if a student does not want to go on immediately, the student may still want to go through the application process at this time. MMUF provides financial support to the students who participate in the program. Students will be awarded a stipend of $2000 during the academic year ($1000 per semester) and $3000 for the summer. Room and board will be provided during summer workshops. There are also grants to assist in GRE classes, and for travel to research-related conferences. Fellows who go on to doctoral programs in the fields supported by the Mellon Foundation are eligible to request repayment of a portion of their undergraduate loan obligations. When a fellow provides the college with the graduate institution’s certification that he or she has completed a year of full-time work toward a doctorate, the Mellon Foundation will repay an amount equal to one-half of one year’s undergraduate indebtedness up to a maximum of $1250 per year for up to four years of graduate school. Fellows who complete their Ph.D.’s can ask for repayment of any remaining undergraduate indebtedness, up to a maximum of $5000. If a student has less than $10,000 in undergraduate loans, any payment can be applied to graduate school loans upon receiving a doctorate. Thus if a student completes four years of graduate school and earns a Ph.D., the student can earn repayment of undergraduate and graduate loans up to a total of $10,000.
Once in graduate school, fellows may apply for pre-dissertation research writing grants (up to $5000.), and competitive travel and research grants ($5000) and dissertation grants ($20,000). They may also apply for funds to finance a sabbatical if they take a faculty job while still completing their doctoral work.
Mellon-designated fields:
Anthropology, Area Studies, Art History, Classics, Computer Science, Demography, Earth Science, Ecology, English, Ethnomusicology, Foreign Languages, Geology, History, Literature, Mathematics, Musicology, Philosophy, Physics, Political Theory, Religion, Sociology.