The USC Mellon Humanities and the University of the Future Program seeks applications for a two-year Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in any area of the humanities from scholars with a Ph.D. from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences who have interest in academic administration. This postdoctoral fellowship is reserved for scholars who earned their Ph.D. within five years of their entrance into a graduate program. To apply for the 2020–2022 cohort, a candidate must have completed all requirements for their doctoral degree by July 1, 2020.

The Program seeks to address the need for more humanities scholars in academic administration by opening potential new career paths. Each postdoctoral fellow will spend one semester working closely with the divisional dean; another with one of the college deans (such as the college dean of undergraduate education or the college dean of graduate education); a third in either the media office, the Academy in the Public Square, or Advancement; and a fourth semester free of any responsibilities to enable fellow the chance to work full-time on revising and publishing their research. The fellow will attend meetings and contribute to policy decisions, working as a liaison between dean-level offices and faculty members, attending and participating in scheduling and staffing meetings, meeting with potential donors and program officers from foundations, and advancing the mission of USC Dornsife. During the time of the fellowship, the Divisional Dean for the Humanities will serve as a mentor and provide assistance for the fellow’s scholarship, including support for grant applications, review of book proposals, and reading draft articles or chapters of works-in-progress. Our goal is to provide mentoring so that the shift to greater administrative responsibilities does not come at the expense of research productivity.

Applicants’ research and teaching must be based in the humanities, including but not limited to American studies, art history, classics, comparative literature, English and non-English literatures (including creative writing), ethnic studies, gender and sexuality studies, history, philosophy, and religion.  Proposals are welcome from applicants with interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects. Proposals may focus on any period and geographic region.