Humanities and Social Science Postdocs 2009-2010

This page is for postdocs that begin in 2010.

Formatting
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AAUW American Fellowships
Info Deadline: November 9, 2009
 * Status goes here

American Academy of Arts & Sciences Visiting Scholars
Info Deadline: October 16, 2009
 * Status goes here

Columbia Society of Fellows
Info Deadline: October 5, 2009
 * Anyone know if letters can be submitted by recommenders after Oct. 5? Guess that's really a general question about these applications.
 * There's no reason to wait - once you open the online account, they will send emails and your recommenders can submit their letters via email.
 * Wonder if anyone can help me with this: they're asking us to design a two-page syllabus for an undergraduate course.  Guess I'll just follow the instructions, but is it possible they'd actually prefer a *narrative* of what we'd assign and how we'd teach the material?  The latter feels more natural to me than the boilerplate that a syllabus would involve (two- or three-paragraph overview, week-by-week list of readings), though obviously I'll leave out stuff like "Please silence your cell phones when in class."  Thanks in advance, sorry for the newbie question.   - Since unlike the other postdocs, they don't ask for "course description" but specifically for a syllabus, I would do that. Based on the course descriptions' on their website, I would in fact not do more than one paragraph of description, and give a detailed week to week sessions. That's at least what I did in my app.
 * I did a brief course description followed by a weekly outline, including course readings. I thought this was best given only two pages.  Can we all bitch a little bit about the $30 "application fee."  What a joke.  They don't even attempt to explain what it is for and to top it off you have to make your own copies!  Is Columbia really this hard up for money? (x2)

Committee on Global Thought Fellowship
Info Deadline Nov 1, 2009 (priority), or Nov 15, 2009

Dartmouth College - Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships
Deadline: Oct 15, 2009

Duke University - Writing Program
Info Deadline Oct 30

Harvard Academy Scholars Program
Info Deadline: Oct 1, 2009
 * Received email confirmation of receipt of application saying that further info on the status of application would be sent in late November (10.16).

Harvard Society of Fellows
Info Deadline (nomination letter): September 4, 2009
 * Anyone receive request for materials yet? (9/14)
 * yup, check your snail mail (9/14) -- There it was! (9/15)
 * Anyone care to share how many writing samples you sent? (I sent one).
 * I sent three: short published paper, short unpublished paper, finished diss chapter (about 50 pages altogether). - I sent two: two published articles based on the dissertation (55 pages together). -- I sent 3: a pub'd article, a finished diss chapter, and the intro to my diss (close to 100 pgs; I'm sure it's WAY too much).
 * Does anyone know when they start arranging interviews?
 * 10/5 postcard acknowledgment that materials have been rec'd. -- Mine too (October 6).
 * 10/14 received phone call to set up interview for early November (sent in application right at 9/25 deadline) (x3, though my deadline was later)
 * Congrats, but what do you mean--your deadline was later? -- Thanks. I mean that they roll the deadline depending on when they receive your nomination letter. One of my colleagues was given a deadline three weeks earlier than mine.
 * Hmm...my phone is eerily silent... (x3)
 * Come onnn phone! I want to hear Nobel laureate Walter Gilbert's cheery voice on the other end!  Ringringring!
 * Give it a rest. We're too good for Harvard.
 * Does anyone know what the interviews are like?
 * on average how many applicants are there? and how many interviews would be scheduled?
 * In the past, interview invites have been rolling, and they did a few interviews a week through the end of November.

Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies Fellowships
Info Deadline: Sept 8, 2009

Jean Monnet Fellowship
Info Deadline: Oct 25, 2009

Magdalen College Fellowship by Examination
Info Deadline: Oct 12, 2009
 * When they say that "candidates must have undertaken no more than four years' graduate study" they mean post-doctoral study, in Americanese, correct?If they require a PhD AND that you not have done more than 4 years graduate study, that would be a pretty tall order, wouldn't it?
 * No; remember that UK PhDs are research-only, with a theoretical duration of just 3 years (I suspect that this might be negotiable for US doctoral students, but I don't know anyone who has asked).
 * I asked! And I was told that I can apply as a US PhD provided I make it clear in my application that the research-only portion of my PhD studies was 4 years or under
 * What is the "examination" - is it a defense of the work you submit, or something else?
 * I think it refers to the fact that if you are shortlisted, you have to sit a "viva," or a defense of your proposal/research. Kind of like a dissertation defense, but live as in a UK viva.

Max Weber Fellowship
Info Deadline: Oct 25, 2009

National Humanities Center Fellowships
Info Deadline: October 15, 2009
 * (Q: does this fellowship only accept advanced faculty, people who already have a job? It says that "young scholars are encouraged to apply," but they must have a substantial record of publication, and almost everyone who got it last year was an Associate prof.)
 * It also says that young scholars should be aware that the center does not support the revision of dissertations. So unless you've already got the diss published, and are on to the next thing . ..
 * At one point in their materials they refer to a 1,000 word proposal; in another they refer to it as approximately 1,000 words which must fit on four pages. How strict do you think the 1,000 word maximum is?

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture 2 Year NEH
Website Deadline November 1, 2009
 * This seems to have a serious bump up in pay this year

Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture 1 Year Mellon
Website Deadline November 1, 2009

Princeton Society of Fellows
Info Deadline: October 1, 2009
 * Status goes here

Rice University - Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships
http://hrc.rice.edu/PDCall.aspx

SAR Resident Scholar Fellowships
Info Deadline: Nov 1, 2009

SSHRC
Info Deadline: October 6, 2009

Has anyone submitted?

Nope, but I did get that email that CCV is down. Hopefully it's not a problem.
 * Yes: yesterday (October 3). I was determined not to run into busy-server-at-the-last-minute problems. I instructed my referees to have their appraisals uploaded by October 5th at the latest so they wouldn't run into that problem, but they all came through by Oct. 2nd.
 * (Oct 5) No: my referees can't get into the EAMS system. I called sshrc and they said that there may be an extension due to technical problems. Even the person answering the phone couldn't get in! Argh.
 * Maybe it's already been resolved. I logged in twice today without any problems.
 * Oct 5 again: yes, things have sorted themselves out. Whew.
 * Oct. 6: but today the EAMS system seems, once again, to be down/in-and-out of operation.
 * Done!! A bumpy ride... but better than last year.
 * Congrats. It's nice to be done with that thing.

University of Cambridge- Gonville & Caius College Junior Research Fellowships
Info Deadline: October 1, 2009
 * Note: Must be graduates/current students of a British institution, with no more than 4 years post-doctoral experience see below.
 * Actually I'm not sure if '4 years of post doctoral experience' is correct. I think its 4 years of post graduate study- which in the UK means 4 years after your undergraduate degree. The Caius website also says that "Candidates must be graduates of, or research students in, a University in the British Isles, and they must have completed not more than four years of full-time research (or part-time equivalent) by 1st October 2009." This would therefore disqualify the vast majority of 5th year PhD students from the US.
 * It is not post graduate study; it is "full-time research." A taught masters does not count. A research masters (MPhil) or a PhD program probably does.

University of Cambridge - St Chatharines College Junior Reserach Fellowships
Info Deadline: October 31, 2009

University of Michigan Society of Fellows
Info Deadline: September 30, 2009
 * what is the deal with the writing samples? is it between 1 and 3, or are 3 required? (9/25)
 * It says between 1 and 3 and total pages can't be more than 25 or something. But then online form won't let you submit w/o three.  So i submitted the same article (circa 25 pages) three times.  (9/25)
 * No, Each sample should be around 20 pages: you can submit longer work, either in installations, or as one sample and then in the others just write a note saying that is what you did. I know this for a fact because I asked, and that was the reply I got from the administrator.
 * I wrote and asked if I could submit one sample of 60 pp or two that equal 60 in length. They wrote back and said they require three 20-page samples. I guess that doesn't preclude cutting up one large sample into three parts.
 * Does anyone know if you are allowed to submit the same research proposal two years in a row? Thanks.
 * I asked the same question (about submitting a lengthy writing sample) and was told that it's fine to split a longer text into multiple documents. Seems like the total page count is what they're really worried about.
 * Am I the only person who is getting an error message when they try to go to the online ap? (9/30, 3 PM EST):  "Error: Could not connect to the database. Please try again later."
 * sigh. there goes another $30. at least harvard and princeton aren't so crass as to milk us for our pennies....
 * does anyone know when they usually notify people about making the short list or the interview process? - Around February, and there are no interviews.
 * I wonder why they extended the deadline on this one.


 * Does anyone know if they conduct interviews for this one? - they don't.

University of South Florida
Postdoctoral Scholars Social Sciences and Humanities, 2010-11 Sustainable Societies

General Discussion and Comments

 * Question: I'm wondering how people feel about sending a proposal to revise your diss vs. proposing a new project. Is the former considered to be not original enough and/or is the latter considered to be not very believable (because everyone assumes you will indeed turn your diss into a book? Any advice from people who have been successful with postdocs? (9/26)
 * Answer: I was interviewed last year for one of the fancy-schmancy postdocs (I'm not bragging, by the way; I completely blew it), and I sent a proposal for a brand-new project. Whether this helped or hurt is hard to say. I know people who have gotten the very best postdocs by proposing to revise. If you do get an interview, it's a hell of a lot easier to talk about your dissertation. Sorry I don't have a more decisive answer.
 * ANSWER: I got a postdoc this year and a few interviews etc for others.  I sent a proposal for an additional chapter/ new research that I tried to fit into the larger scheme of the revised dissertation.  But that made sense for my work, so I think if you can show how your work is grounded in doctoral research (either dissertation or otherwise) but takes it in new directions, that is the best.  What this looks like for everyone is different, though.  Hope this helps and good luck!
 * ANSWER: I defended my diss early in the summer, spent the summer writing and revising a project proposal for a new project. It was funded absurdly well. (Three full-year grant offers.) But it had also been on the back burner conceptually for a couple of years, so it was pretty well-developed AND it was on a maddeningly hot topic that had nothing published on it and was becomingly increasingly of interest. It was also a lot easier to talk about than my very abstract theoretical dissertation. So I think the funding I landed was due to a combination of factors. I agree with previous poster: what works best for each person varies. Good luck!!


 * Question: can anyone shed light on why a user or users is/are repeatedly deleting entries from the 2007-8 Hum/Soc Sci post-doc page?
 * Answer: No, but my guess is it's someone who tried to edit the page, deleted entries by mistake, and then didn't know how to find the edit log to restore the previous page. And is too embarrassed to ask for help or own up. (Happened to me...I deleted an entire, well-used wiki...but I eventually found the log, and restored!)
 * Question: Because I am looking for more things to be obsessive about, here's a question: do people tend to staple, paperclip, or neither the individual components of an app (cv, writing sample, etc...) since i imagine they photocopy these, stapling seems obnoxious but paperclipping seems messy.
 * Answer: If the application requires multiple sets of materials (e.g., Columbia SOF) then I staple each set. -- Another Answer: since Harvard specifically asks not to use paperclipping, but to staple, I assume that this is the preferable way to go.
 * Questions: These may seem like a vague questions, but are Oxbridge JRFs worth applying for, especially if one's main discipline is English literature? If they are, what's the competitive standard (i.e. about how many publications, etc.)? The reason why I ask is because I suspect - and would like to be corrected if wrong - that English would be at a disadvantage. It seems to me that it's more difficult to produce 10+ articles in English than in, say, Psychology or Sociology, where co-authoring is common.
 * Similar Question: Are these worth applying to if your discipline is social anthropology?
 * Answer: JRFs are not done (generally) by 'tick boxes'; applications will be assessed by people who have some awareness of the disciplinary fields involved, so if there's a comparative difference in publication speed and style which is discipline-specific rather than candidate-specific they'll be well aware of it.