The Society of Fellows in the Humanities at Columbia University brings together exceptional early-career scholars in the humanities and humanistic social sciences to be part of a vibrant cross-disciplinary community. In addition to teaching opportunities in affiliated departments and time for research, Fellows participate in and often organize lecture series, workshops, and other scholarly events that contribute to the intellectual life of the SOF/Heyman and the university more broadly.

Founded in the mid-1970s to encourage interdisciplinary teaching and research and housed in the Heyman Center for the Humanities since the 1980s, the Society offers one-year fellowships, renewable for up to two additional years.

The Society of Fellows is made possible by the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the William R. Kenan Trust.

Fellows are appointed as Postdoctoral Research Scholars (Mellon Fellows) in the Society of Fellows in the Humanities and as Lecturers in appropriate departments at Columbia University. This one-year fellowship is renewable for a second and a third year. In the first year, Fellows teach one course per semester. At least one of these courses will be in the undergraduate general education program: Contemporary Civilization. Literature Humanities, Music Humanities, Art Humanities, or Global Core. Courses in the Global Core typically explore the cultures of Africa, Asia, the Americas, and the Middle East in an historical context. The second course may be a departmental course, the design of which will be determined jointly by the Fellow and the Fellow’s academic department.

In the second and third years, Fellows teach one course per year, leaving one semester free of teaching responsibilities. The courses taught in the second and third years of the fellowship may be departmental courses or Core courses; however, at least two of the four courses taught over the three Fellowship years must be in the Core.

In addition to teaching and research, the duties of Fellows include planning a weekly Thursday Lecture Series, which is open for attendance to members of the University community, and participation in the intellectual life of the Society and of the department with which the Fellow is affiliated. The Society also cosponsors conferences and special events planned by Fellows around their special interests.

The Society of Fellows in the Humanities intends to appoint a number of postdoctoral fellows in the humanities for the academic year 2024–2025. Fellows newly appointed for 2024–2025 must have received the PhD between 1 July 2020 and 1 July 2024.