Humanities and Social Sciences Postdocs 2010-11

This page is for post-doctoral positions that start in 2011

FORMATTING:

To keep this page consistent and easy to read, please adhere to the following guidelines (taken from last year's page):
 * 1) Please place new fellowship entries in alphabetical order. Note that "University of X" should be alphabetized by U as first sort, and X as second sort within the U listings.
 * 2) Please mark the title of the fellowship using the H2 header.
 * 3) Please include the deadline and a web link to the ad/website; PLEASE follow the format of other entries.
 * 4) For logging comments or updates, please begin your entry with a bullet point. Each entry should have a separate line.
 * 5) For substantive comments or updates about status, interaction, etc., please include the date at the beginning of your entry so that users can scan the info quickly for new entries.

For more information and answers to some questions about timing, materials requests, application numbers and fields, offers, etc. see last year's postdoc wiki at: http://academicjobs.wikia.com/wiki/Humanities_and_Social_Science_Postdocs_2009-2010

A helpful blog for finding post-doc fellowship opportunities: http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/studentgrantsfellowships/

UC Berkeley has a useful listing of Postdoctoral Fellowships here: http://www.spo.berkeley.edu/Fund/hpostdoc.html

American Academy of Arts and Sciences Visiting Scholars Program

 * Postdoctoral visiting scholar program
 * Deadline 10/15/2010
 * The purpose of the Visiting Scholars Program is to support the work of younger public policy analysts, humanists, and social scientists who show promise of becoming leaders in their field, especially those who work on multidisciplinary topics. The Program offers opportunities for them to carry out their individual research as well as to collaborate with Academy Fellows on shared scholarly or policy-related interests. It also helps to create a national network for scholars in the early stages of their career, assisting them in their research and professional development.

American Association of University Women
dissertation. The fellowship must be used for the final year of writing the dissertation. Applicants must have completed all coursework, passed all preliminary exams, and had the dissertation research proposal or plan approved by November 15, 2010. The doctoral degree must be completed no earlier than April 1, 2012, and no later than June 30, 2012. Degree conferral must be between April 1 and September 15, 2012. Dissertation Fellows are not required to study in the U.S. Funds may not be used for extended field research." So I think yes, they do have something for ABDs.
 * Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowships
 * One year support.
 * Postdoctoral fellowships are available in the arts and humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences.
 * Deadline: Nov. 15th, 2010
 * It seems that as per their website, you must have your PhD in hand to apply -- no ABDs... ?
 * Yep. That's the way they've always been.
 * Actually, I don't think that's true--it looks that way on the site, but once you open the PDFs with application information, there are 2 fellowships: a postdoc and a dissertation fellowship; on the latter, the following: "The program provides fellowships for women writing their dissertations and those pursuing postdoctoral research....The purpose of the Dissertation Fellowship is to offset a scholar’s living expenses while she completes her
 * Yes, there are two separate American fellowships, one for dissertation writing and one for postdoctoral research leave; however, the postdoc has always been for those who have their PhD in hand.

ACLS African Humanities Program Fellowships

 * One year writing post-doc, with possible residential award.
 * Applicant must be a national of a sub-Saharan African country, and must reside and have an affiliation with an institution in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda. PhD must have been received in the last five years.
 * Deadline: 1 Dec 2010 (electronic submission)
 * This program funded 39 fellows last year, looks like it should be the same number, possibly more, this cycle.

ACLS/ Mellon New Faculty Fellows

 * Two year post-doc


 * Online application due October 28, 2010
 * Is anyone invited to apply? Could we have some tips on how to write a 3 page cover letter? Since the cover letter is not addressed to specific jobs (teaching requirements and specialties), I am not sure how to go about writing the letter. I presume that it is like any other cover letter in that we need to state research and teaching statements. But how specific and general, especially the teaching part, should be? Reading from last year's wiki, duties and requirements of fellowship entirely depend on an institution that is looking to select an applicant.
 * No, you have to be nominated by your Ph.D. institution. The ACLS then sends you a link to the application, which I suspect will contain more detailed instructions about what the letter should contain.
 * Do I understand this fellowship correctly, you are nominated by your granting institution and then ACLS/The University Consortium matches you to a school you'll be sent to for two years? Is that how this one works?
 * Yes, this fellowship is invitation only. Your department nominate people to your institution, which then it sends final nominations to ACLS. According to the last year's wiki, I think participating schools select their own picks. The selection/negotiation processes sounded extremely crazy last year.
 * I don't believe the consortium matches you to a school. They choose 50 (or maybe the number has changed?); the member institutions then review the files of those 50 and make offers.
 * There are 65 fellowships available this year (as per the official ACLS annoucement). As per last years wiki, there were 800 nominations (an "official" figure) for 50 fellowships, but the availability of more fellowships this year may mean that participating schools have been invited to nominate more people than last year as well.
 * This year it's 1000 nominations.  Never mind -- now I can't find evidence for that.
 * Q: I just found out that I've been nominated by my university and wondered if any of you (perhaps those who did this last year) have tips on reference letters at this point. Specifically, my diss advisor is encouraging me to ask an old TA advisor to write a letter addressing my teaching (neither of my two main letter writers know my teaching). I have a great teaching reference from my current adjunct position, but my diss advisor suggests that it is better to present a unified front from the nominating institution despite the fact that I haven't taught there in five years. The TA advisor would be good, but not at all current. Any suggestions?
 * I have been nominated by the university but have not been invited to apply yet. Have others who have been nominated by their universities heard from ACLS directly yet?
 * I haven't heard anything from ACLS: my school said ACLS will send those nominated emails with access to the online application site by Oct 14. Since we don't have any information directly from ACLS, I am wondering if all these 65 positions will be teaching postdocs only. Is anyone informed about that from his/her own institution?
 * I don't think there's any reason to believe these will be teaching postdocs only. No word from ACLS yet.
 * The teaching load is three semester-length courses per year. Yes, that's more teaching than many other postdocs but these positions pay well and the teaching load is still less than many TT jobs.
 * E-mail from ACLS with link to application (10/13, 11:30 eastern time). FAQs say they expect about 800 applications for 65 spots.
 * I'm fairly certain they will be teaching postdocs only--if it's like last year, any fellows who aren't made offers by schools will be given a 1-year non-teaching stipend--the amount of the stipend is less than the pay for the teaching gigs (I think it was like $35K last year). I don't know whether anyone ended up in this situation last year--there's no indication of it on the (long!) conversation on last year's wiki.
 * I am not clear on how this process works. Will 65 people be selected by ACLS and their info sent along, or will all 800 nominated peopel get their infos passed along to participating programs?
 * ACLS selects 65 people. Then the participating programs have their info passed along to participating programs, who then choose whom to take.
 * 25 pages is such a weird length for a writing sample! Most of my article-length writing is nearly twice that and my presentations (20 minutes=10 pages) are less than half of that. I might have an old seminar paper, but that's not my current scholarship! My question is, if I submit a presentation, will its brevity ~ 15 pages ~ count against me, or will those wonderful folks who will be judging the applications appreciate brevity? How are you folks dealing with this??
 * hmmm...a bit of a perplexing question, since in my experience 25 pages is totally common. there are certainly other odd things abt the requirements--double spaced job letter? 11 pt font? a 2 pg CV?--but the writing sample actually seemed reasonable and conventional, at least to me: it's the typical post-doc length *and* the typical length that schools want w/ job apps, when they ask for them up-front. if it's possible in the week or so we have before the deadline, i think you should try to shorten a longer piece, personally--they say "either an article or a polished dissertation chapter" and while the latter category doesn't make much sense (25 pgs is certainly short for a chapter), i think they're looking for something a bit more substantial than a conference presentation.
 * The instructions say that footnotes or endnote are not necessary, so eliminating those might get you closer to the 25 page limit.
 * One of my letter writers was shocked by the length/formatting requirements (submitting a word version of a published paper rather than the PDF of the published version??), so I find it hard to believe it is that normal... maybe it's field specific? In any case, I am in the same position as one of the above folks, as all of my published works are longer than 25 pages (double spaced, size 11 font), and my conference papers are much shorter. My husband suggested that if footnotes/endnotes are not necessary, perhaps I can just cut out the reference list from one pub and just leave the parenthetical citations as sufficient, meaning one pub may just squeak under the requirements, but I am nervous about doing that.... I was also wondering if a conference presentation would be seen as too informal, since the text of these generally never include references, etc.?
 * I hope I am not shooting myself in the foot here, but I think I am going to try to enhance a presentation. A "talk or panel presentation" is one of the options, so they must be aware that it is a 20-30 minute piece or reading/writing. Shortening an article by half, without using footnotes, is going to make the article significantly less substantial anyway. At least by expanding a presentation I will have a completely stated argument that is fully referenced (instead of a paper with holes and no footnotes to fill them). What are other people doing?
 * I have work forthcoming in a major journal, so I'm using a shortened version of that article for the writing sample. This is just my opinion, but I think readers may have a very different relationship to conference papers than to peer-reviewed and published (or forthcoming) work. In the latter case, the work has already gained the approval of scholars in the field. Readers can comfortably assume that the essay makes a significant contribution to the field and judge the argument and prose style with that assumption in mind. This becomes particularly important, it seems to me, when the importance of the work is less immediately apparent to those outside of the writer's field or subfield. Good luck.
 * i agree that the published essay is ordinarily ideal for exactly those reasons, however i wonder whether that patina-of-publication rule holds when it's in a word doc just like all the rest...this is why it's such a pain in the ass that they won't accept PDFs! (not to mention, at least in my case my published essays are much different from the original word docs they emerged out of, since they've been through a multi-stage editing process w/ the editors and the proof-readers, so i don't even *have* a word version of the published piece!) i think cutting out endnotes is fine, but i'd do an informationally extensive in-text style if so (e.g. (John Smith, Academic Text, 100).)
 * Does the word doc form mean you can't include publication details in a header? Isn't it easier to put your published article into the form of a word doc, even if you have to retype it, than to write something entirely new or write ten pages of new material to double the length of an existing conference paper? In any case, the standard writing sample length for most jobs seems to be 20-25 pages (see above post: "in my experience 25 pages is totally common"), so I'm not entirely sure why this one is so troublesome. But what do I know? In the end, you will know best how to present your own work. And senior colleagues or dissertation advisors who have won this kind of award before will be your best guides.
 * The NEH's fellowship proposals demand "no less than an eleven point font," a three page narrative, and a two page resume--by that fact alone these things make sense in the ACLS application. I don't understand the above division between the presentation and the article. We have all seen presentations that make considerable contributions just as we all have read published articles that contributed nothing and with which few if any agree. Further, I am working under the assumption that an expert in my field (if not my subfield) will read my application simply because the instructions call for specialized writings. At this point I am such a fan of the ACLS I wish I could buy a T-shirt!
 * To the last poster: where exactly do the instructions call for specialized writings? I'm asking because I'd also love to assume that "an expert in my field will read my application", because that would mean less (and different kind of) rewriting of my writing sample to make it competitive.
 * I am assuming that a "published article," "a polished dissertation chapter," or a "panel presentation," will be specialized--but perhaps I am wrong?
 * Look, the recipients of this are going to be teaching in good departments for 2 years, even teaching grad students--this is not an explicitly "interdisciplinary" program, and surely they're taking disciplinary specificity at least somewhat seriously; at the same time, there are 800 applications to read, so there's only gonna be so far the specificity can go. I think imagine to yourself that we're getting divided into groups of, say, 40, so you're gonna get put w/ the 39 other applications most like yours, and assume that's the level of "expertise" your reader will have. Which means we can't assume that someone writing on 18th c. italian poetry will get a reader who is a specialist in 18th c. italian poetry, but we can totally assume that that person won't get a reader in anthropology. In other words, I think imagine your reader as approximately like a job committee member (as opposed, say, to a editorial board-selected reader for a field-specific journal or something)--that is, they'll probably be in the same discipline, but you can't assume they're in the same subfield.
 * Just a warning--you need to do an 800 character max project description on the webpage app--if you're waiting till the last minute, then, make sure you have this ready to go!
 * Q: After you've entered the email addresses of the people writing letters on your behalf, do you see all three listed on the Reference Letters page? I see only one, and I'm afraid it's because all three recipients have the same email address -- the email address of the department coordinatory, who keeps e-copies of letters on file and handles dossier requests, all confidentially of course. I hate these applications that require the active and timely participation of others. Not only must you have a letter, but you must have a letter writer who is sitting at his computer, waiting for an email calling him to action.
 * And to correct someone above, not all Fellows will be teaching grad students. There are several undergraduate-only colleges where you could end up.
 * Anyone else notice that the instructions say, "We do not accept letters from dossier services such as Interfolio"? I just put in my interfolio document email addresses on their reference letters page, but now worrying about whether this is going to work. Why did the ACLS put this stipulation in here? Has anyone else used interfolio for this app and gotten it to work?
 * Ok. So their machine doesn't seem to send of emails to interfolio email addresses if you put them in. Interfolio is not reporting receiving an email from them.
 * Update of update: I spoke too soon. Their website did accept my interfolio letters.
 * A double-spaced cover letter? Really? These stipulations seem byzantine and bizarre.
 * Yes, a double-spaced cover letter does seem odd and, frankly, unconventional. Are folks really double-spacing?
 * Just follow the directions. Don't try to use Interfolio. Double-space your cover letters. It's all right there in the directions.
 * Right, we can all read the directions. But the directions are a headache, you must admit.
 * All applications are a headache. Adjust. I managed to submit mine without the planets spinning out of alignment because I had to double-space my cover letter, compress my abstract, and contact my recommenders directly. Sure, I'd prefer it if the application fairies had filled out my application for me and unicorns delivered it on a silver platter, but they didn't. I got over it, so can others.
 * Well, now we know the one person worthy enough to win all 65 awards. I think this market is bad enough without condescending remarks.
 * My apologies. I was trying to say in a funny way that fussing about double-spacing and such is a bit silly. After all, we all made it through the arcane requirements necessary to get a PhD, so I'm sure we can handle this too. As sometimes happens on the Interwebs, it came out sounding more harsh than intended. Good luck to everyone, I'm sure all of the applicants are more than worthy, and I really mean that.
 * I spoke to one of the current fellows today who is taking his fellowship in our dept, and it sounds like he followed their directions to the letter. For my part, I'm much happier about taking the extra time for this fwp than for the ones that have more applicants for fewer positions.
 * Re: the cover letter, are you guys actually putting your address, etc. on there, as well as their address, as if it were a "real" cover letter? I was thinking of just making a header with my name/school for the cover letter. Thoughts?
 * Did anyone else finish this up today as the ACLS website counted down the minutes? At this point in my life, that consituted quite the rush. Probably not a sign of great mental health, but I'll take what I can get.
 * Crap. I worked really, really hard on this application. I was really proud of myself for getting a writing sample into good, formatted shape. Now I realize I didn't double-space my goddamn letter. Oh well. I guess that means everyone else's statistical odds just got a bit better.
 * I was fairly last minute -- 57 minutes to go. Had I not been coughing up my lungs **and** on the verge of throwing up my lunch, I would have kept editing that writing sample for the remaining 50 minutes. Pretty hard to condense a 70-page chapter into 25 pages, while remaining fairly coherent.
 * Good luck to us all! (x4)
 * Can we get a count of how many of those that applied are using this board? And yes- good luck to all- at least January isn't that far off.... (Count here.... x13)
 * did anyone receive the postdoc last year without being paired with a school?

Cambridge University - Christ's College

 * One JRF (four years) in the Arts, Humanities or Social Sciences
 * Applicants should hold a first degree, or higher degree, qualification from a university in Britain or Ireland, or should be studying at such a university for a higher degree.http://www.christs.cam.ac.uk/jrf/
 * For those who finished their PhD not earlier than 1 Jan. 2010
 * Deadline: 12 Nov. 2010

Cambridge University - Churchill College, Murray Edwards College, Selwyn College, Trinity Hall

 * Joint application for up to 9 3-year JRFs in arts & social sciences across 4 colleges.
 * "no age limit, but will normally be awarded to candidates who have recently completed their PhD or are close to completion"
 * More details via Churchill's website: http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/applying/fellows/jrf/
 * Deadline: 21 Nov. 2010.
 * The Stipendiary Fellowships (anyone opting to work for FREE for 3 years ?! see comment below) differ in subjects between the colleges (click for list).:


 * Churchill (2 stipendiary) - 1 in: Economics, HPS (History and Philosophy of Science), Law, Philosophy, PPSIS (Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies), Theology. 1 in Science.


 * Murray Edwards - 1 in the Sciences.


 * Selwyn - 1 in American Studies (including the history, law and institutions, literature, and music of the United States).


 * Trinity Hall (2 stipendiary) - 1 in: Arts and Social Sciences.1 in Science subjects (including Mathematics, Medicine and Engineering).


 * So...3/6 for the Humanities and SocSci's isn't that bad...Last year they had 800 (?!) applications...
 * In response to the statement about 'working for free': non-stipendiary fellowships are normally targeted at people who have an outside source of funding, especially common in the sciences, but sometimes in the arts (e.g. a British Academy Postdoc which they are taking at a Cambridge college).

Cambridge University - Clare College

 * Two 3-year JRFs in the Humanities
 * "Candidates who have undertaken more than four years of full-time research in the Humanities are unlikely to be considered."
 * Deadline: 13 Dec. 2010

Cambridge University - Clare Hall

 * Two stipendiary JRFs in the Arts and Social Sciences, duration 3 years, to start October 2011.
 * "The Betty Behrens Fellowship is funded to encourage research into the causes of, and/or the ways of mitigating, those forms of anti-social behaviour (including such as result from personality defects and disorders) which cause severe unhappiness to, and/or frustrate the talents or capacities of, those who suffer with them."
 * The other is in any area of the Social Sciences or Arts
 * NB (re. the discussion above): "There is no restriction on age, sex or previous standing, except that candidates may not already have held a Stipendiary Research Fellowship at an Oxford or Cambridge College, and some preference may be given to candidates who are at a fairly early stage of their research career."
 * This is a graduate-only college, so there are no teaching requirements.
 * Deadline: 29 Oct. 2010

Cambridge University - Emmanuel College

 * 3x 3 year JRFs in any subject (+1 in biology/medicine)
 * Applicants "should not have completed more than eight years of post-graduate research by October 1, 2011"
 * Deadline: 7 Oct. 2010
 * Shortlisting: 15 Nov. 2010 (written samples will be requested)
 * Decision by 24 Jan 2011.

Cambridge University - Gonville & Caius

 * Junior Research Fellowship (4 years), open field
 * "graduates or research students, who have completed not more than four years of full-time research"
 * "Full submission of written work in support of the application is required at the time of application"; this means a submission of anything up to 30,000 words
 * Deadline: 5pm (BST) 30 Sep. 2010

Cambridge University - Kings College

 * Junior Research Fellowships (up to 4 years), Arts & Social Sciences
 * Applications are invited from researchers in the fields of Philosophy, Theology, History and Philosophy of Science, Economics, Sociology and Psychology.
 * Candidates "will usually" have their PhD and NOT MORE THAN 2 years post-doctoral research experience at 1 oct 2011
 * Deadline: 22 Oct 2010.

Cambridge University - Magdalene College

 * One JRF in the humanities: "Candidates should normally have completed two or three years of research and may have written a PhD dissertation"
 * Note this restriction: " Short-listed candidates will be called for interview; and the expenses of travel within the United Kingdom only will be paid by the College."
 * Deadline: 22 Nov. 2010

Cambridge University - Newnham College

 * Junior Research Fellowship (3 years) in 'History, Architecture and History of Art, Oriental Studies, [or] Divinity' (posting states 2010/11, commencing Oct. 2011)


 * Female candidates only


 * Deadline: 5 Nov. 2010


 * Second round notification 10 Dec 2010 with submission of extra material by 20 Dec 2010


 * Decision to be made by 4 Mar. 2010.


 * RE: time to degree, etc. From the website for this fellowship. "Both selection panels use the concept of "research age" in judging how long a candidate has been active in research, so that time out of research for professional or family reasons will not be a disadvantage."

Cambridge University - Jesus College

 * Junior Research Fellowship (3 years) in 'Arts & Social Sciences'
 * "Candidates who have undertaken more than four years of full-time research are unlikely to be considered"
 * Deadline: 1pm BST 17 September 2010, with written work requested from shortlisted candidates by 21 October.
 * Application and college website down as of 5.30pm BST 16 September 2010. This does not bode well...
 * Back up now (6:58pm BST)
 * Any news on the short list?


 * 13/10 rejection received via email, 11am. Congrats to whoever made it to the short-list.(X6)


 * 13/10 rejection received via email. Did everyone get this?: "The Master has, however, asked me to thank you for your application, which was one of a large number in a very strong field, and to wish you every success in your future career." (Field: Literature.) Yes everyone got this.
 * 13/10 request to send in writing samples. I think it is a long short-list not a short short-list... Congratulations! Would you mind sharing your field? Response: Comparative Literature.

Cambridge University - Sidney Sussex College

 * The College Council wishes to make elections to two Research Fellowships, each tenable for three years, to commence on 1st September 2011. One Fellowship is devoted to...the Arts and Social Sciences, the other to...the Sciences (including mathematics, engineering and the medical sciences). Interviews for short-listed applicants...beginning 29th November 2010.


 * Deadline: October 12th 2010
 * Note on their online application system: it has a number of quirks. Be very careful with time-out issues (it seems to do so without warning so watch your time). Also, make sure that your statements do not contain anything "weird" (e.g. accents, umlauts, symbols, strange punctuation marks and so forth). To stay on the safe side, if a character does NOT appear on the standard US or UK QWERTY keyboard, do NOT include it -- it will NOT go through. I noticed this because after I submitted the application form, they produced an RTF of the information that went through -- and lo and behold, not only were the accents and umlauts all omitted -- in fact the ENTIRE WORD containing the accent was cut out. Just a heads up to you guys, best of luck.

Centre for Advanced Study, Sofia, Bulgaria

 * For the academic year 2011/2012 CAS Sofia provides in-residence fellowships of two- to five- month duration to post-doctoral non-Bulgarian researchers. Junior as well as senior scholars are invited to apply.
 * The working language is English.
 * In addition to supporting focus-group research, CAS invites scholars to pursue their individual research projects during in-residence periods of up to five months. Fellows participate in the intellectual life and the scholarly community of the Centre while working on projects of their own choice. CAS Sofia assists Fellows in all practical matters concerning travel, residence and research in Sofia.
 * Deadline:November 1, 2010.

Columbia University Society of Fellows in the Humanities

 * Several postdoctoral fellowships in the humanities for the 2011-2012 academic year. "We invite applications from qualified candidates who have received the Ph.D. between 1 January 2007 and 1 July 2011. Fellows are appointed as Lecturers in appropriate departments at Columbia University and as postdoctoral research fellows. The fellowship is renewable for a second and third year."
 * Requires a $30 US application fee. Unconscionable.
 * I am not actively on the post-doc market, but I happened to see this. Charging a fee to apply for such a position is absolutely deplorable. If I were a post-doc candidate, I would refuse to apply for this. Seriously. I know the market is bad, but such exploitation of financially disadvantaged post-grads is wrong on a fundamental level and should not be countenanced. Ditto for Michigan Society of Fellows below.
 * Deadline: Postmark October 4, 2010.
 * Curious that the writing sample that they ask for is no more than 3,500 words. How many people have a self-contained paper/chapter at hand of this particular length? A standard article in a humanities journal is around 8,000 words. The average PhD chapter is probably somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000 words.---I, too, am baffled by this odd word limit. I basically sliced and diced one of my chapters beyond real recognition. The articles I've got are too long and I wasn't about to send a seminar paper I wrote years ago.
 * I submitted a conference paper last year. I wasn't selected, so I can't say it's a fool-proof plan, but a rigorous, well-written conference paper can make a powerful writing sample.
 * I have also been frustrated by the 3500 word limit -- a paltry 11 ds pp. Does anyone know if the writing sample is expected to, in fact, resemble an uninterrupted argument, or is it also acceptable to do a creative mix of sample / summary?
 * I sent an e-mail to SOF, asking for some guidance on the writing sample (in light of the strangely low word limit), and just received this rather vague response: "Submitting an excerpt from your dissertation is acceptable. There is no preference for excerpts or standalone pieces. How you arrange your writing sample is up to you for what best exemplifies your scholarly writing."
 * I was planning on submitting a conference paper. What else is 3500 words long? Sliced and diced dissertation doesn't seem to work for me...but I suppose a carefully chosen selection with a bit of contextualizing introduction might work.---on my chair's advice, i decided to submit a conference paper. i was a little worried because it has little to do with my overall project/interests (more of a pet project). however, they also have your research statement so...
 * i nominate Columbia SOF for most annoying humanities p-d application, submitting to the jury a.) the 35 fee, b.) the 3500 word writing sample, c.) the 5 hard copies specially collated and mailed (i think they should use the $35x1000 to buy online submissions capability and a good printer). dartmouth is a close runner up for requiring undergraduate transcripts (i mean, SERIOUSLY?!) but i think columbia is the winner. any other nominations before we present the trophy? :)
 * I second your nomination. Apart from everything you mentioned, last year I attempted to drop off the application in person (I used to live in the area and wanted to avoid the mailing cost for the giant packet). The entrance to the office took 10 minutes to locate--turned out to be in the first floor of an undergraduate dorm, and the security guard was shocked that anyone wanted to drop off work there! In the end he nicely let me in (after I left my ID with him). After that, I skipped the application this year for sure. :)
 * I skipped it in the end. Time that I would spend agonizing over the writing sample and putting everything together = Time I would spend doing 4 or 5 other applications.
 * Me too--I'm just not cool enough for Columbia.
 * Just curious, has anyone received their postcard confirming receipt of the application? and if so, when? thanks.
 * My postcard arrived last Saturday (10/23).
 * @ My postcard arrived: You rock! @Those of you who take time to post on here and whine about the application requirements taking too much time, with the exception of the person who applied last year and got a bit lost on campus, seem to have plenty of time on your hands. To be fair to all of you, it does look like a pain of an application, but what is the point of whining about it?
 * I dunno, what's the "point" of whining about anything? Because it makes you feel better, I guess, when you're shelling out, say, somewhere between $200-$500 for application fees, overnight mailng costs, photocopying, printer ink, paper and envelopes and stamps, interfolio subscriptions, rush dossier-mailing because your damn advisor didn't get his letter in on time...and that's not even counting if you have to go to a professional convention for job interviews, for which you have to buy a plane ticket and a hotel room and a suit and a buncha bad breakfasts at the hotel starbucks...And if after all that effort, you see these really frustrating, bureaucratically-persnickety applications, none of which are standardized (as they are in plenty of other fields), and you see well-off institutions like Columbia and Harvard asking you for yet another damn check, maybe ALL YOU WANT is to gripe a little, anonymously, with folks going through the same thing. And while--sadly--it is indeed impressive that Columbia, nearly alone among postdocs, can get it together to send a daggone postcard acknowleding receipt of your check...oops, I mean, receipt of your *materials*, that seems like a somewhat tarnished silver lining. So yeah, absolutely no point at all of whining but, what the hell, it's at least a chance to engage in a little gallows humor, no?

Cornell Univ. - Society for the Humanities - Fellowships 2011-2012

 * focal theme for 2011-2012 is “Sound: Culture, Theory, Practice, Politics.”
 * Six to eight Fellows will be appointed
 * Applicants must have received the Ph.D. degree before January 1, 2010
 * The fellowships are held for one academic year.
 * Each Society Fellow will receive $45,000.
 * Deadline: October 1, 2010
 * Awards will be announced by the end of December 2010.

Cornell Univ. MELLON POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS 2011-2013

 * two postdoctoral teaching-research fellowships in the humanities, each awarded for the two-year period beginning July 2011
 * Each fellowship offers a stipend of $45,000/year
 * available in two areas of specialization: History of Art (deadline: January 15, 2011), Linguistics (deadline: November 26, 2010)
 * History of art focus: combination of: modern and contemporary art, popular culture, including media and fashion, gender and sexuality studies, and the social history of the United States as well as Asian-American studies.
 * Linguistics focus: core linguistics (phonetics, phonology, syntax, semantics) with additional expertise in critical theory/cultural studies (e.g. poetics, stylistics, gender studies, queer theory, postcolonial studies, globalization studies)

Dalhousie University Killam Postdoctoral Fellowship

 * Izaak Walton Killam Postdoctoral Fellowships are awarded annually at Dalhousie University to recently graduated scholars of superior academic research ability in any discipline. Awards are tenable for two years and include travel costs, a research grant, and a conference travel allowance.
 * Applications due by December 15, 2010

Dartmouth College - Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship

 * One postdoctoral fellowship in the humanities and humanistic social sciences for the 2011-2013 academic years. PhD must have been completed between January 9, 2009 and June 30, 2011.
 * Applications due by October 1, 2010.
 * The following fields ARE NOT eligible: Anthropology, Art History, Film/Media Studies, French, History, Italian, Music and Native American Studies.
 * This may well be a stupid question - but what counts as a 'humanistic social science'? Political science? Linguistics? Sociology?
 * On the above question: I believe that the "humanistic social sciences" are not specific fields, but rather refer to humanistic methods and orientations toward research. For example, anthropologists, sociologists, and political scientists who do interpretive, qualitative and in-depth interviews or ethnographic observations likely qualify. Scholars who use large-N datasets and don't interact with humans, or texts, in their research would probably not qualify.
 * Does Dartmouth require a writing sample? There's no mention of it in the application guidelines.
 * FYI: I emailed the administrator to ask what would happen if my letters of reference didn't make it on time (my recommenders have the totally reasonable idea that jobs don't expect letters before October 1). She said that my application would still go through, but that the applications get sent out to the committee for review "the day after the deadline," and that if my file was missing letters, that would obviously put me at a disadvantage. I can only assume she means they get sent out Monday, October 4, since Oct. 1 is a Friday.
 * 10/6: Has anyone received confirmation of application?
 * 10/12: Nope, no word yet.

Duke University Program in Women's Studies

 * The Duke University Program in Women's Studies invites applications for two post-doctoral associates in Interdisciplinary Feminist Studies to complement their 2011-2012 theme of "The Future of the Feminist 1970's." We seek candidates with interdisciplinary experience in Women's Studies. We welcome empirical, textual, and theoretical specialization from a diverse array of academic fields, political and cultural contexts, and historical periods.
 * All applications materials (including all letters of recommendations) must be received by November 22, 2010.
 * Cross-posted at Queer/Women's/Gender Studies 2010-11

Duke University Thompson Writing Program Fellowship

 * candidates with a Ph.D. in any field and a demonstrated commitment to undergraduate teaching. Fellows are asked to draw on their disciplinary training and interests to design a seminar-style course introducing students to academic writing. Teaching load is five sections of Academic Writing per year, with each section limited to 12 students.
 * Applications received by October 15, 2010, will be guaranteed consideration.

Environmental Fellows at Harvard University

 * Purpose: The Harvard University Center for the Environment created the Environmental Fellows program to enable recent doctorate recipients to use and expand Harvard's extraordinary resources to tackle complex environmental problems. The Environmental Fellows will work for two years with Harvard faculty members in any school or department to create new knowledge while also strengthening connections across the University's academic disciplines.
 * The fellowship will provide an annual stipend of $55,000 plus health insurance, a $2,500 allowance for travel and professional expenses, and other employee benefits. The Harvard University Center for the Environment awarded four fellowships in 2010, and expects to award approximately four to five fellowships per year thereafter.
 * Candidates for 2011 Environmental Fellowships should have received their terminal degree between May 2007 and August 2011. (Fellows must have completed all requirements of their degree before starting work in September 2011.)
 * Candidates with a doctorate or equivalent in any field are eligible, and they may propose research projects in any discipline. Applicants without a Ph.D. may apply if they have studied in fields where the Ph.D. is not the typical terminal degree. All successful candidates will be able to demonstrate experience performing scholarly research.
 * Each candidate must secure a commitment from one or more Harvard faculty members to serve as a mentor and to provide office or lab space for the two-year fellowship.
 * Deadline: Applications and all letters of reference must be received by the Center for the Environment by 5 pm EDT, Friday, January 14, 2011. The Center will select a group of fellows and alternates by March 2011, and contact applicants with results at that time.

==Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat, Jena (Germany)==
 * Two year (with possibility of extension) post-doc in the History of Science (or similar)
 * German languages skills essential!
 * Post includes some admin/teaching as well as research
 * Deadline: 11 Oct. 2010

Harvard Humanities Center

 * One-year fellowship in "all fields within the humanities and the allied social sciences."
 * Applicants must have received the Ph.D. after May 2008. Applicants without the Ph.D. must demonstrate that they will receive the Ph.D. in or before June 2011.


 * Deadline: November 15, 2010.
 * Another $35 fee

Harvard Society of Fellows

 * "Candidates are nominated for Junior Fellowships, generally by those under whom they have studied. Applications are not accepted from the candidates themselves."

I just called today and they said that they are making calls now and they will be doing so until the end of November. I've not gotten a call yet. Anyone??
 * Nomination letters accepted until September 3, 2010.
 * Invitation to apply rec'd 9/8/2010 (via email and then by USPS)
 * Confirmation of receipt of materials via USPS September 8, 2010
 * Question: I know I was nominated, but have not been invited to apply. Is there a preliminary cutting-round at the nomination letter stage? A: I think you should contact them. I've not seen anyone mention an initial cut on previous wikis, and it seems like they should have sent you a web portal link by now.
 * Second-hand info that someone has gotten a call for an interview.
 * Have you got a date on that (rumored) call for interview? Thanks!! (X4)
 * Wow! Either this wiki is dead or Harvard SOF is way behind this year. (X2, someone must have good news??)
 * I just got confirmation of receipt of my application via email, Thursday, 10/14.

Called today and heard that they are currently reading my application. Any confirmations of actual calls?

May I ask if the people who called the SOF did so after receiving an email confirming receipt of their applications ? I wonder if the SOF Committee starts reading our dossiers only after these emails have been sent out, or not. --A: Not if it's anything like last year. I got an interview when two pieces of my application were still missing. HSOF are not the type to trash your app on a technicality or refuse to read it because one of your recommenders was late. My impression was that they actually treat candidates like human beings, unlike these places that don't even send acknowledgements or rejections. I'd suggest people not call about stuff, as they specifically ask candidates not to do so. They really will let you know if your file isn't complete, and won't penalize you for things not in your control. --A: THANK YOU! This was a really helpful answer.

Got a call yesterday 10/20.-what is your discipline, out of curiosity? - History - Congratulations!

Met someone (Poli-Sci) who has a confirmed on-campus interview this coming week, 10/25

Got a call today; scheduled my interview for very end of November.(10/25)-Q: what is your field? - Literature

Does anyone know what these interviews are like and how one might prepare?? Sounds intimidating. (10/26)

I have heard it is very conversational and not stressful at all. (11/2)

how much do they stagger these invitations? any ideas? wondering if i should cross this one off my list... do they review in discipline-chunks or...(11/2)

Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, University of Helsinki

 * The Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is inviting applications for 8–12 University Researcher/Postdoctoral Researcher Positions for a fixed-term appointment starting from 1 August 2011. 2–4 researcher positions may be reserved for scholars whose research interests are related to the theme of mortality.
 * The working language of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies is English.
 * "The director of the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies will determine the length of the individual appointments (between one and three years) on the basis of the applicants’ research plans."


 * Deadline: 8 September 2010 at 15.45 local Helsinki time

Imperial College London Junior Research Fellowships

 * Although these are mostly aimed at the sciences, note that applications to work in the Business School & Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine are also accepted for these 3-year fellowships.
 * Candidates are expected to have "up to" 4 years post-doc experience & must secure a sponsor at the university
 * Deadline: 29 Oct 2010.

Johns Hopkins Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities

 * This year's topic is "Concepts of Diaspora"
 * "Applicants should have completed the Ph.D. in one of the following fields: History, English, History of Art, Musicology, Classics, Anthropology, German and Romance Languages and Literatures, Comparative Literature, History of Science and Technology, Near Eastern Studies, no earlier than June 30, 2006 and no later than June 30, 2011"


 * Deadline: November 11, 2010.
 * Cross-posted at Queer/Women's/Gender Studies 2010-11
 * This one had over 450 applicants last year - good luck to us all!
 * I was a finalist last year for this postdoc. Reading the wiki was extremely stressful - they began cutting people right before Christmas (a large cut that went for about 4 days of 50 people including Christmas Eve!), and then did fine slicing from mid-January until the final rejections around March 1. It was sometimes at a rhythm of 2 people a day. There was lots of arguing and hostility on the wiki as it was a confusing process, so you might want to think twice about following this one!
 * Q: How long are others' research/teaching statements? I know there is no page limit---

John David Stout Research Fellowships at Victoria University of Wellington

 * "This Fellowship provides a full time opportunity to write within an academic environment for the year of tenure. The Fellowship is based in the Stout Research Centre, a multi-disciplinary research centre in New Zealand Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. It is open to researchers in any area of study relating to New Zealand society, history and culture.
 * Deadline: September 10, 2010.

London School of Economics - Research Officer Post-doctoral Position

 * Post-doctoral Research Officer to undertake research duties on a major research project funded by the European Research Council “Useful and Reliable Knowledge in Global Histories of Material Progress in the East and the West from the Accession of the Ming Dynasty (1368) to the First Industrial revolution (1756-1846)”.
 * The successful candidate will specialise in the following region: Islamdom. Candidates should possess a PhD in Economic History and strong language skills in Arabic and-or Persian.
 * Post will end June 1, 2012


 * Deadline: August 18, 2010

The Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities at the Hebrew University

 * The Martin Buber Society of Fellows, a joint venture of the Hebrew University and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), aims at fostering inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural academic discourse at the highest level among outstanding young scholars from Israel and Germany together with selected senior colleagues.
 * Each year up to ten exceptionally gifted young post doctoral fellows are appointed in all fields of the humanities and social sciences, with the exception of law and economics. Fellows receive a monthly stipend of approximately 9000 Israeli shekels and a housing subsidy and are asked to reside in Jerusalem. No special connection to Israel, to Jewish studies, or to German-Israel projects is required. Discussions in the Martin Buber Society take place in English. Scholars who have completed their Ph.D. at an Israeli or German university, or citizens of Israel or Germany who have received their Ph.D. in other countries, are eligible to apply.
 * Scholarships are initially granted for two years (subject to a review at the end of the first year), beginning October 1, 2011, on the basis of a detailed outline and description of a research project of major scope and innovative character, and may be extended further.
 * The deadline for applications for 2011-2012 is January 30, 2011.
 * For further details and application procedures, see our website http://buberfellows.huji.ac.il/

Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin - Junior Researcher Fellowship

 * two-year position to begin no later than 1 September 2011
 * Research Fellow in Comparative History and Theory of Textual Practices
 * Candidates should hold a doctorate in the history of the human sciences, history of science or related field at the time the position begins
 * Project organized by Professor Anthony Grafton (Princeton University) and Professor Glenn Most (Scuola Normale Pisa/University of Chicago): "The Learned Practices of Canonical Texts: A Cross-Cultural Comparison"
 * Deadline: December 3, 2010

Max Planck Two Year Postdoctoral Fellowship

 * "The future research fellow should hold a PhD in anthropology, history of science or related field, and must be familiar with neuroimaging research"
 * To work on the “Neurological Adolescent" project.


 * Deadline: 15 Oct. 2010

Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship
==[http://newsinfo.nd.edu/news/17165-moreau-diversity-fellowship-application-deadline-is-nov-1/ Moreau Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship (University of Notre Dame) ]==
 * Stipend: $25,000, plus funds for research costs of up to $3,000 and for university fees of up to $5,000
 * Tenure: one year beginning summer 2011
 * Completed applications must be submitted through the ACLS Online Fellowship Application system (http://ofa.acls.org) no later than 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, November 10, 2010.
 * Notifications will be sent in late March 2011.
 * "ACLS will award 65 Fellowships in this competition for a one-year term."
 * "This is the first stage of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation/ACLS Early Career Fellowship Program*" (NOTE: Early Career Fellowship is NOT being offered for 2010-11). *Recipients of Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship and other national fellowships will be eligible to apply (for Early Career Fellowship) in Fall 2011 if they have completed their dissertations within their fellowship tenure or by August 31, 2011, whichever comes first.
 * Two-year research, teaching, and mentoring fellowship, which carries an "annual salary of $50,000, health insurance and $5,000 for relocation/research expenses."
 * Up to 11 Fellows will be selected (based on last year's count).
 * Applications due November 1, 2010.
 * Did anyone apply for this fellowship?

National Endowment for the Humanities - Research Fellowship

 * $4,200 per month.


 * application deadline, May 4, 2010


 * Notification early December 2010

National Humanities Centre Fellowships

 * 40 residential fellowships for advanced study in the humanities during the academic year, September 2011 through May 2012.
 * Young scholars as well as senior scholars are encouraged to apply, but they must have a record of publication, and new Ph.D.s should be aware that the Center does not support the revision of a doctoral dissertation.
 * In addition to scholars from all fields of the humanities, the Center accepts individuals from the natural and social sciences, the arts, the professions, and public life who are engaged in humanistic projects.


 * The Center is also international and gladly accepts applications from scholars outside the United States.


 * Application deadline, October 15, 2010

Penn Humanities Forum - Mellon Postdoc

 * "Five (5) one-year Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships are available for the 2011-2012 academic year for untenured scholars in the humanities who received or will receive their Ph.D. between December 2002 and December 2010."
 * The theme is "Adaptations."
 * Applications due October 15, 2010.

University of Pennsylvania - McNeil Center for Early American Studies

 * The McNeil Center will appoint a Postdoctoral Fellow for a two-year term beginning 1 July 2011
 * Applicants must have earned the PhD no earlier than 2006 in American History, American Literature, American Studies, or a closely allied field and must have completed all requirements for the degree when the term of appointment commences.
 * While this fellowship is particularly appropriate for projects designed to turn a doctoral dissertation into a publishable monograph, any project dealing with the histories and cultures of North America in the Atlantic world before 1850 will be considered. Proposals dependent on the use of Philadelphia-area archives and libraries are particularly welcome.
 * The postmark deadline applications is 1 November 2010.

University of Pennsylvania Mellon Teaching Postdoctoral Scholarships

 * For the class of 2011-2013: Music Theory, Art History (Renaissance and/or Baroque), History (19th-20th century U.S. International history, or Environmental History), East Asian Studies (Religion or Popular Culture), and South Asian Studies.
 * Eligibility is limited to applicants who have received the Ph.D. within two years of the time they would begin their appointment at Penn, that is, no earlier than August, 2009. Penn Ph.D.'s are eligible.
 * The stipend for 2011-2012 is $48,000. The fellows will also have a one-time $5,000 budget for research support.
 * Deadline: NOVEMBER 30, 2010
 * Question: If you are not in one of the exact areas listed, is it worth applying? Has Penn historically offered fellowships to candidates in fields other than those on their list? --that is, Art History other than Ren/Bar, History other than US, etc. --? [I would also like to know this!]
 * Since I do U.S. Environmental History and don't want any competition for this... I'm going to say nope, don't even bother. Seriously though, unless someone from the selection committee decides to weigh in on this wiki, you're just going to have to make your own decision. The application looks pretty straight forward so you can probably crib most of the required documents from your other application packets. There's no fee. It's the Ivy League. So, is it worth the old Hail Mary pass?
 * Penn asked departments what they needed taught, and the departments responded. That is, they didn't pick the categories just because they're so hot this year. It doesn't seem that likely that they'll pick someone from outside the categories if they get satisfactory applications in the areas they want. But, as the previous poster noted, it doesn't cost you anything other than time and effort to apply..
 * What if I work on South Asia but have a degree in anthropology? Can I apply?
 * BUT NO LATER than 2013 for the receipt of the PhD? That is, can one be ABD and still apply? I could not tell. The way it is worded seems toi indicate that it is open to ABD candidates.

Princeton Society of Fellows

 * 5 3-year postdoctoral fellowships. Must have received degree between January 1, 2009 and October 1, 2010. Can be ABD untill June 15, 2011 but will require 'letter of progress'.
 * Applications accepted between August 16 and October 1, 2010.
 * 1 open; 2 in "Humanistic Studies"; 1 in LGBT Studies; 1 in Race and/or Ethnicity Studies.
 * Apparently a candidate can only apply once in their career: "If you have already applied to the Society of Fellows, you may not apply a second time. We therefore recommend that candidates wait until they have completed a substantial portion of the dissertation (approximately half) before applying."
 * Note that they are serious about this (new) rule of only applying once and it applies across types of SOF fellowships (for example, if you have ever applied to an "open" fellowship and now want to apply to a more specialized one, you can't. This was confirmed through contacting the director of SOF.)
 * I'm confused. Can you explain what you mean by this rule applying across types of SoF fellowships? For example, if you've applied ("been nominated') for a Harvard SoF, which is an open fellowship, does this mean you're now ineligible to apply to the Princeton SoF?
 * No. Princeton SoF has "open" and "targeted" fellowships. So if you applied, for example, to the LGBT fellowship and were rejected, then you can't apply to the "open" one. But it's all Princeton... thank goodness, they don't have jurisdiction over other schools yet!
 * Okay. That's fine.
 * Screw that. No grandfathering?
 * 9/18 - I can't open their website. Is anyone else having this problem. I feel silly contacting them if it's just me. Thanks!
 * I have no problem entering their site or the form. Try clearing your history or using another browser.
 * Does anyone who didn't graduate from an Ivy league or a UC school have any hopes of getting this? I think not. The list of current and previous fellows, and the schools they graduated from strikes me as a disheartening commentary on the state of market, and on higher education in general. If the Ivies just trade their students and faculty around, what's the point of any of it? It would be such a wonderful fellowship to have, for so many reasons, but I, for one, have decided to put my energies into something within the realm of possibility.
 * To the poster above: I got my degree from a non-Ivy, non-public-Ivy university, and I was interviewed as a finalist.
 * [Deleting my question about the expectation for #9 tick box on the finalized application form. I realized they're expecting applicants to submit the application form first, then arrange for letters of reference to be sent. I did it the other way round: I arranged for letters to be sent, and I'm just now completing the application form.]
 * Actually, I was told that the #9 tick box is just a reminder to get the letters sent. Before or after doesn't matter.
 * Yes, of course. My first post, which I deleted, was "Why should I contact my referees again, when their letters have been sent? To confirm I'm truly applying? That makes no sense." Then I realized that tickbox #9 was simply a reminder to applicants, based on the reasoning that applicants would leave their letters to the end. (I arranged for the letters from the start.) Because I answered my own question, I deleted it and replaced it with the above post for the benefit of anyone who had seen it, to say, "Now I understand their reasoning. Here's what they're assuming."
 * 10/20: Anyone heard anything?
 * I assume it's way too early to have heard anything yet - the deadline was "postmarked by 1 October" so applications probably trickeled in after then, and it has only been three weeks since. Also, the FAQ says it takes up to 6 weeks just to send candidates an acknowledgement that the application has been processed. So chill ya boots.
 * 10/25: Received acknowledgement of receipt. Says we'll be notified in Jan. (x6)

Princeton University - Center for the Study of Religion

 * Small number of ten-month academic year positions for pre-tenure scholars and recent Ph.D. graduates. For 2011-2012, scholars will be appointed in the area of Christian Thought and Practice with special emphasis on the religious life of American Christians, congregations or clergy.
 * Scholars will conduct own research, attend a weekly interdisciplinary workshop and participate in Center-sponsored events.
 * Applicants' doctorates may be in any relevant field. Princeton University Ph.D.s are not eligible.
 * Apply at http://jobs.princeton.edu, requisition number 1000751. Applications due January 7, 2011.
 * For more information, visit http://www.princeton.edu/csr/funding-opportunities/visiting-fellows

Rutgers Center for Cultural Analysis

 * Two external fellowships with awards of $45,000
 * Topic: Public Knowledge: Institutions, Networks, Collectives


 * Download application form.


 * Deadline: emailed or postmarked by January 7, 2011.

Rutgers University Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities

 * Three two-year postdoctoral fellowships supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, one each in the Departments of English, History, and Women's and Gender Studies. Fellows will receive $50,000 annually as well as an annual research allocation of $2,000; they will also receive Rutgers University health benefits.
 * Fellows will pursue research and teach three courses during the two-year term in the department of their appointment.
 * Applications must be received by January 17, 2011. Candidates must have received the Ph.D. after August 31, 2006; applicants must have finished all requirements for the Ph.D. by June 1, 2011.
 * It seems like only the Department of English is set up to accept applications at this point. Or am I missing something on their application portal?
 * 10/5: Positions in all 3 departments have now been set up for applications: Women's & Gender Studies, History, & English.
 * Gender Studies post-doc cross-posted at Queer/Women's/Gender Studies 2010-11.

School for Advanced Research

 * Applications due on November 1, 2010
 * Approximately six Resident Scholar Fellowships are awarded each year.
 * SAR provides Resident Scholars with low-cost housing and office space on campus, a stipend up to $40,000, library assistance, and other benefits during a nine-month tenure, from September 1 through May 31.
 * Resident scholars may approach their research from anthropology or from related fields such as history, sociology, art, and philosophy.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship

 * The SSHRC 2010-2011 postdoc now has its own wiki page here.

Stanford University, Clayman Institute for Gender Research, Postdoctoral Research Fellowships

 * Recent Ph.D.'s in all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences whose research focuses on gender are eligible. We encourage scholars with a strong interest in interdisciplinary methods to apply.
 * The postdoctoral fellows will focus on the Institute's theme of "Beyond the Stalled Revolution: Reinvigorating Gender Equality in the Twenty-first Century.”
 * Applications must be submitted online by Monday, January 31, 2011.
 * Cross-posted at Queer/Women's/Gender Studies 2010-11

Stanford University Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in the Humanities

 * Up to 6 2-year postdoctoral fellowships. Must have received the PhD between January 1, 2008 and June 30, 2011.
 * Eligible fields: Classics, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies.
 * Applications due November 15, 2010.

Tulane U., New Orleans, LA - Mellon Postdoc

 * Two-year contract, renewable annually, as Mellon Postdoctoral Fellows in the Humanities beginning in August 2011. We expect to appoint two or three fellows for AY 2011-2012. Candidates must have received the Ph.D. by June 30, 2011 and not before September 1, 2007.


 * Fellows will be assigned to one of six departments within the School of Liberal Arts: Communication, English, French and Italian, History, Philosophy, or Spanish and Portuguese. Fellows will teach mid-and upper-level courses in their field of expertise, and these courses will be cross-listed with one or more of four interdisciplinary programs: African and African Diaspora Studies, American Studies, Asian Studies, and Jewish Studies.


 * The teaching load will be one course per semester, with the remainder of the fellows' time devoted to strengthening their research profiles. Fellows must be in residence at Tulane during the tenure of their fellowship. Preference may be given to applicants who intend to make use of Tulane's and New Orleans' rich cultural and archival resources, such as the Amistad Research Center, the Hogan Jazz Archive, the Newcomb Center for Research on Women, the Southeastern Architectural Archive, the Latin American Library, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the Louisiana State Museum, and the archives of the New Orleans Public Library.


 * The stipend is $45,900 per year, with some funding also available for research and travel.
 * Send dossier including cover letter, curriculum vitae, a one-page summary of the dissertation, a few sample titles of courses the applicant would like to teach, and three letters of recommendation to Dr. Kevin Fox Gotham, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, School of Liberal Arts, 102 Newcomb Hall, New Orleans, LA 70118 by December 1, 2010
 * Cross-posted at 20-21 c. American 2011, African American 2011, & Other Ethnic American 2011

University of Alberta Postdoctoral Fellowships

 * The University of Alberta offers two postdoctoral fellowships: the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowships and the Grant Notley Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowship
 * Deadline:November 29, 2010 is the deadline for prospective postdocs to submit all documents to departments.


 * Be aware that this program does not normally reimburse relocation costs, and that the cost of living in Edmonton, Alberta is high. Grocery prices are at least a third higher than in any comparable U.S. city.

University of British Columbia Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship

 * The UBC Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowships are provided annually from the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Fund for Advanced Studies and are available for most fields of research. The fellowships are awarded for a maximum of two years. The number of awards varies between four and six per year.
 * Deadline:Mid-October to early November - check with the UBC department or unit of interest regarding internal deadline

University of Calgary Killam Postdoctoral Awards

 * Selected by a special multi-disciplinary committee of the University Graduate Scholarship Committee, the recipient of this fellowship is an exceptional new scholar who has obtained a PhD degree within the two years preceding the competition. The fellowship enables the Fellow to work at the University of Calgary, consolidate his/her research training and develop and initiate original research in his/her discipline as well as participate in and contribute to the activities of his/her host department or unit.
 * Currently, the fellowship is valued at $45,000 for twelve months, plus a research allowance of $6,000.
 * Deadline:

UCLA Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities

 * Theme: "Cultures in Transnational Perspective."
 * Two or more fellows for a 1-year term renewable for a 2nd year beginning in the fall of 2011. Fellows must have earned their doctoral degree between January 2005 and June 2011.
 * Stipend of $53,000, plus benefits, a moving allowance of $1,500, and a research budget of $3,500. All Fellows will be housed in home departments for which they teach two courses.
 * To apply, please visit our website at http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/mellon
 * All application materials are due by December 01, 2010.

University of Chicago Society of Fellows

 * Four-year postdoctoral teaching appointments as Harper and Schmidt Fellows who hold the rank of Collegiate Assistant Professor.
 * Fellowships are open to scholars in all disciplines and areas of specialization who will have completed all requirements for their Ph.D. degree no later than August 31, 2011.
 * Online applications must be completed by November 1, 2010.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellowships in the Humanities

 * Two Post-Doctoral Fellows for two-year appointments starting in Fall 2011
 * Open to scholars in all humanities disciplines, but we seek applicants whose work falls into one of the following broad subject areas: Race and Diaspora Studies, History of Science/Technology, Empire and Colonial Studies, Memory Studies
 * Completed applications must be submitted, and letters of support must arrive, by 5:00 p.m. on October 29, 2010.
 * (9/22) You must have PhD in hand to apply. I confirmed this via email correspondence. No ABD candidates, even those who will finish at the end of this semester or spring
 * Do they interview? Any idea how many people applied last year?

University of Manchester (UK)

 * Three-year postdoctoral research associate position assisting a Professor's project on early modern British/Scottish History
 * To work on "the Scottish contribution to the formation of Britain between 1603 and c.1760, including Scottish migration to England" and archive work with Scottish Parliamentary papers; paleography skills essential.
 * Deadline: 22 Sept. 2010 note short deadline

University of Michigan Society of Fellows

 * Postdoctoral fellowship in the humanities, must have "received the Ph.D. or comparable professional or artistic degree between June 1, 2008 and September 1, 2011."
 * Application fee of $30. Ridiculous.
 * The fee is deplorable. I would refuse to apply. Disgusting.
 * Such fees are quite common.
 * Only recently have these fees started to appear. (8/25)
 * Over 800 applicants last year. Ridiculous indeed. Re: the total would equal around half of the offered felllowship.
 * Applications due by 1pm Eastern Time October 18, 2010.
 * If you felt justified about asking for such fees, surely you wouldn't feel the need to defend it on a wiki that is, after all, a service for candidates. Applicants, note and beware.
 * I don't understand the last comment. Could you elaborate?
 * I like to imagine my $30 fee as paying for a few martinis for the fellows who will do the first sorting of our applications. I would like to suggest Bombay Sapphire with just the faintest spritz of vermouth plus three olives.(x2, as I drink a lowly Bud Light to 'celebrate' the passing of another deadline). :-)
 * Those who haven't visited last year's wiki might like to take a look at the relevant section. If Michigan conducts things the same way this year, then it's worth thinking of being a SoF applicant as a bit like being one of 850 suitors standing in a line on a bridge. The high-class bride that is the Society of Fellows walks the length of the bridge, lingering back and forth coquettishly throughout the whole November-January period, gradually pushing prospective applicants off into the sea with a seductive poke and sending a letter to let them know they're no longer in the running. Eventually, early in the new year, only a few suitors remain, the final decisions are posted and the dowry is offered. Good luck to everyone: the poking starts soon.
 * An early indication of the state of the job / post-doc market: I hear that applications for the Society of Fellows are up 70% this year.
 * To the last poster -- just out of curiosity, where did you hear that?

UNC Center for the Study of the American South

 * Two one-year postdoctoral fellowships in the history, culture, or society of the American South, broadly construed to include the states of the former Confederacy and adjoining areas. The awards include a salary of $42,500 and health insurance, plus $3,000 in research and travel funds. The fellowships will support outstanding junior scholars as they revise book-length manuscripts on topics related to the South, and intended for publication by the University of North Carolina Press.
 * The application deadline for the 2011-2012 Postdoctoral Fellowships is December 17, 2010 and recipients will be announced soon after February 1, 2011. Awards begin July 1, 2011 and continue through June 30, 2012.

University of Oxford - All Souls College

 * Five year, non renewable post-doctoral research fellowship
 * For "Humanities, Social Sciences, and Theoretical Sciences (including Mathematics)
 * For candidates who started post-graduate education after 1 August 2003 (negotiable for career breaks etc)
 * Deadline: 24 September 2010
 * Decisions made 19 Feb 2011, appointments start 1 Oct 2011
 * Is this correct? Link not working. [yes! link redirected, as obviously they were too cheap to renew their jobs.ac.uk advert ;)]
 * Ewww. They make their "early career" decision based on when you STARTED?
 * 26/10 - Response.
 * Can you be more specific? Requested to send writing samples to the 'long short-list' (History)
 * Thanks for the clarrification. Best of luck. Appreciated. You too.

University of Oxford - Christ Church, Merton, St John's Colleges

 * Eleven Junior Research Fellows (3 year tenure) in Arts & Sciences to start 1 Sep or 1 Oct 2011
 * Current salary £20,938. Additional housing and lunch entitlements differ between the colleges and are detailed in the further particulars (pdf).
 * Application deadline 12 NOON on 10 December 2010.
 * 'Shortlisting, interviewing and appointing procedures will be conducted separately by each college in February and early March 2011. Interview dates will be published in due course on the relevant college websites.'


 * Subjects are divided up as below, but note that you do not specify on the form; they divide the candidates amongst themselves accordingly (sciences struck through for ease of reading):


 * List A: Merton ('at least one' Arts and one Sciences): Modern History,, Archaeology, Music, Geography, Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry,  Engineering.


 * List B: St John's (two in Arts and two in Sciences): Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Classics (including Ancient History), Theology, Oriental Studies, Materials Science, G eology , Physics, Biochemistry,  Computer  Science.


 * List C: Christ Church ('equal number' of Arts and Sciences): English, Mathematics, Modern Languages, Art History, Law, Sociology, Psychology, Physiology & Medicine.
 * All candidates and subjects eligible except those who 'on 1 October 2011 will have accumulated more than six years of full-time graduate study' (unless they can argue otherwise, e.g. career break, American), or who have had a JRF at Oxbridge.
 * Up to six hours pw. of teaching, discretionary.

University of Oxford - Hertford College

 * Drapers' Company Junior Research Fellowship in the Humanities
 * Applications are invited from candidates in the following subject areas: English Language and Literature, Modern and Medieval History, Modern European Languages and Literature, East Asian Languages and Literature, and Philosophy.
 * Deadline: 12 November 2010
 * Shortlisting (send work) in week beginning 29 November 2010; interviews in week beginning 17 January 2011.
 * Positions start 1 October 2011, tenable for two years.
 * Salary £16,795 rising incrementally, plus free meals and free accommodation or a housing allowance in lieu, together with computer and research allowances.
 * 'The Fellowship is open to graduates of any University who are of postdoctoral or equivalent standing and are already engaged in independent research. Eligible candidates should normally have submitted their doctoral thesis [see below] and have fewer than five years of post-doctoral research experience by the closing date and they should normally not have previously held a Junior Research Fellowship in the Universities of Oxford or Cambridge.'


 * Confirmation from administrator that submission before the application deadline is strictly observed.

University of Oxford - Magdalen College

 * Two three-year Fellowships by Examination (otherwise known as JRFs)
 * Deadline: 22 October 2010
 * Candidates should have an Honours degree or an equivalent qualification and have completed, or be near to completing a doctorate or other post-graduate research.
 * £20,000 per annum with increments in the second and third years; single accommodation in College free of charge or, alternatively, to a taxable housing allowance currently set at £10,000 per annum
 * Selected applicants will be invited to submit written work (25,000 words maximum) sometime in November
 * Selected candidates from short list to sit for viva examination in Oxford in February on written material submitted.
 * The original website is down (dead link), now that the deadline is passed.
 * Submitted application via email and got "Out of Office" reply saying application was received.

University of Pittsburgh Early Career Fellowship

 * "The Humanities Center at the University of Pittsburgh invites applications for an early-career residential fellow for the academic year 2011-12. We seek a colleague of outstanding promise, at work on a major project in any area of the humanities or allied areas of inquiry. Applicants must have PhD in hand at time of application."
 * Stipend will be $40,000, plus benefits, with a fund of $5,000 available for research and relocation expenses. The fellow will be provided with an office and assisted in finding housing in Pittsburgh. The fellow will be required to reside in Pittsburgh while holding the fellowship, to present a lecture and colloquium, and to participate regularly in the activities of the center. If there is a course the fellow wishes to develop and teach, this is welcome, but it is not required.
 * Applications due: November 16, 2010 for the academic year 2011-12.

University of Southern California, Provost’s Postdoctoral Scholars Program in the Humanities

 * Candidates should choose one of the following programs as their proposed host department and explain the choice briefly in their cover letter: American Studies, Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, Critical Studies (Cinema), East Asian Languages and Cultures, English, French, History, Linguistics, Musicology, Philosophy, Slavic Languages and Literatures.
 * Candidates must have received the Ph.D. no earlier than July 1, 2007 and must have the degree in hand by July 1, 2011.
 * Appointments are for two years, with a start date of August 15, 2011. Provost’s scholars will teach three courses over four semesters, with one semester free for full-time research. They are expected to reside in the Los Angeles area during the academic year and to participate in the scholarly life of the host department and the university through seminars and other scholarly activities. The salary is $50,000 per year plus fringe benefits, with a research and travel account of $6,000 per year.
 * Online application opens Monday, November 15, 2010
 * Deadline: February 1st, 2011

University of Southern California

 * Science Technology & Society research cluster are calling for applications for a Postdoctoral Research Associate for 2011-3
 * Based in Sociology department, "Applicants with backgrounds in anthropology, art history, communication, history, literature, sociology and related fields are encouraged to apply"
 * Must have PhD in hand by June 2011
 * Deadline: 15 Dec. 2010.

University of Texas at Austin, Institute for Historical Studies

 * Deadline: January 15, 2011. Applications materials, including letters of reference, should be submitted electronically to the Director, Julie Hardwick, at [mailto:historyinstitute@austin.utexas.edu The Institute for Historical Studies].

University of Texas at Austin, Jefferson Society of Postdoctoral Fellows

 * The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas invites applications for a post-doctoral fellowship for a term of one academic year, possibly renewable for a second year. Fellowships will be awarded to scholars in all areas of the liberal arts who have in the past 7 years completed doctoral dissertations on one or more of the great books and have shown a commitment to the interdisciplinary study and teaching of the great books.
 * Recipients must have a Ph.D. and may not hold a tenured position elsewhere.
 * The term of appointment is September 1, 2011 - August 31, 2012. The stipend is $37,500.
 * Applications must be post-marked by December 1, 2010; any late materials will not be accepted, no exceptions.
 * Duties for Fellows, in addition to their own scholarly research, will consist chiefly of teaching or assisting in one undergraduate course on the great books each semester.
 * Applicants should have a broad background in the interdisciplinary study of the great books, with a concentration in political philosophy.
 * This fellowship will continue the postdoctoral fellowship program begun by the Jefferson Center’s predecessor, the Program in Western Civilization and American Institutions.

University of Toronto, Jackman Humanities Institute (JHI) Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships

 * Up to three Fellows in the Humanities will be selected each year for a two-year fellowship in the JHI.
 * The theme for 2011–2012 is Location/Dislocation
 * Applicants must have graduated with Ph.D. after 1 July 2008; a Ph.D. graduation date before 1 July 2008 is not eligible.
 * Applicants who will defend their Ph.D. degree by 1 May 2011 are eligible, but such applicants must also include a letter from their supervisor. Any award will be conditional on a successful defense.
 * Degree candidates and recipients of the Ph.D. from the University of Toronto are not eligible.
 * All applications must be made online at www.humanities.utoronto.ca by 1 December 2010 at 11:59 p.m. (EDT). Faxed, emailed, and paper applications will not be considered.

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON Mellon Postdoc

 * The theme for 2011-13 applicants is “Life.”
 * 3 two-year postdoctoral fellowships for recent Ph.D. recipients starting on August 29, 2011.
 * The stipend for Mellon postdoctoral fellows is $53,560 per academic year, with a $2,000 per year research allowance, $3,000 per year travel allowance, and a $2,500 computer allowance for the first year. Fellows are eligible for health insurance (http://www.uwsa.edu/hr/benefits/gradben.pdf.)
 * Applicants must be scholars who are not yet tenured and who are no more than 5 years past receiving their PhD.
 * Deadline for applications: November 15, 2010. All materials must be submitted by this date.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Solmsen Post-Doctoral Fellowships

 * Up to four external, academic-year Solmsen Post-Doctoral Fellowships each year to scholars outside UW-Madison working on literary and historical studies of the European Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance periods up to about 1700.
 * Applicants must be in possession of the doctorate at the time of application. The award provides a stipend of $40,000, office space, support services, and access to all university facilities.
 * Applications are due on October 15th.

Valparaiso University Lilly Fellows Program

 * Deadline 12/14
 * Three two-year residential postdoctoral teaching fellowships in the areas of Humanities and the Arts for 2011-2013 for scholars seriously considering academic vocations in church related institutions.
 * Fellows will teach seven courses over a two year period; engage in scholarship or creative work; participate in a two year colloquium; work with a VU faculty mentor; and interact with representatives from a national network of church related institutions.

Washington University in St. Louis Mellon Post-Doc ('Modeling Interdisciplinary Inquiry')

 * The Fellows will receive a two year appointment with a stipend beginning at $44,450 per year.


 * Postdoctoral Fellows plan and pursue their own continuing research in association with a senior faculty member at Washington University, and, over the course of their year appointment teach three undergraduate courses in the home discipline and collaborate in an interdisciplinary theory and methods workshop.
 * Application deadline is December 1, 2010.

Williams College, MA - Gaius Charles Bolin Dissertation/Post-Doc and Post-MFA Fellowships

 * Up to three scholars or artists are appointed each year
 * Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents from underrepresented groups, including ethnic minorities, those who are first-generation college graduates, women in predominantly male fields, or disabled scholars.
 * The Fellows will receive a two year appointment with a stipend of $33,000 per year and up to $4,000 for research-related expenses.


 * Deadline: December 1, 2010.

UK Postdocs
Do NOT delete positions in the UK and Canada.

Note to applicants holding degrees from US universities: UK postdocs seem to have time stipulations (measured from the beginning of studies) that close them to anyone who had graduate education on the American scheme, had to work while going to school, or had a break in their education. Don't waste your time applying; they won't make an exception.

That's simply not true. Oxbridge JRFs (which are the bulk of what's posted here) are not representative of generalist UK postdocs, and in any case, most of the JRFs stipulate that consideration may be made for career breaks, medical issues and other breaks (and all of the colleges are quite aware that a US PhD has a different timescale than a UK PhD). Advising US students not to apply is very unhelpful advice. If in doubt; ask before applying. Simple, really.

See my edit above to the Cambridge Newnham College fellowship. The timeframe stuff is definitely not true in that case.

Application Fees
What do you say that we all agree to never hire a scholar who has won a postdoc at a program with an application fee? (re Michigan, Harvard or Columbia)

No one likes a fee, but there's nothing unusual about them. Although it is not their sole purpose, fees help to keep out the weaker applications. If you're really a fit for the post-doc and you really want it, then you'll apply and pay the fee. If you're just applying for the sake of applying, then maybe the fee will stop you from submitting the application and wasting everyone's time. In the whole scheme of things, and I'm sure that the person who is so upset with the fee will disgree with me on this, $30 is chump change.

As you have predicted, I do disagree. These fellowships (Columbia, Harvard and Michigan) aren't themed fellowships so I'm not really sure how one would know whether they fit or not (besides the fact that they can pay the extra $$.) As for whether or not you really want it, doesn't the sheer bulk of required materials for the application take care of that aspect? Really, who applies only for the sake of applying? Lastly, and most importantly, do you really think that these schools have seen fewer applications because of the fees? or is it more likely that they are profiting greatly from the fact that so many people do not have proper employment?

I totally disagree with the person who said that there is "nothing unusual about [these application fees]" and agree with other person on here. These fees are in fact very unusual. I have never seen them before and most applications don't require them. It is NOT chump change. Applicants looking for a post-doc or entry-level academic position are already in a very difficult financial situation and have to apply to many positions because the odds are very bad to begin with and the criteria to weed out applicants are so arbitrary. These schools are extremely wealthy and shouldn't be milking prospective applicants in this way.

And yet you think the appropriate channel for your bitterness about this is to penalise the candidates who fork out?


 * IMHO it's not channeled bitterness but organised resistance against an unfair labor practice. Next they will charge for all employment applications.
 * IMHO organising resistance against the candidates who pay the fees get the positions is hardly a very well-thought-through political strategy. If you want people to think you're being something other than bitter, you (whoever made the comment about 'not hiring a candidate who had paid an application fee') might want to take it out on the institutions rather than your colleagues who, due to the same pressures you are suffering, are forced to pay the fees. There are plenty of people who don't think it's fair and who can't afford it, but will fork out nonetheless. What do you think you would achieve by punishing them for making that decision?

Is there a scholarship for those who can't afford fellowship application fees? $30 is more than I can afford. (That's a week's groceries or a month's gas bill.) I'm not being facetious; if someone knows about a scholarship fund that helps cover application fees, please advise. Otherwise, I guess I'll apply for the second-class fellowships. Agreed that this is unfair labor practice. Brings back fond memories of applying to colleges; I could only apply to a limited number because of fees then too. Some of us cannot participate in a world where $30 is 'chump change'. Personally, I'd like to see us collectively refuse to pay such fees. In the meantime, please suggest scholarships that might help cover fees.
 * There is a scholarship, but it costs $45 to apply...

Out of curiosity I came to see what's up in this year's postdoc wiki. I agree with the above posters who have argued against the fees. It's just so wrong considering the fact that those institutions are filthy rich. Last year I avoided all the postdocs that asked for money and only applied for ones that were free. And guess what? I won a highly respected one (definitely not 2nd class!). Don't let those big names suck you in and suck you dry. And for those who are willing to dish out the $30 or whatever, you do know, I hope, that the reason why the fee is set at $30 and not at $100 is to be low enough so that some fools will pay for it.

So now everyone who pays the application fee is a "fool"? Even the people who WIN the fellowships? -- Dear Cave-Dweller: I'm sorry to inform you that the 5 or 6 who win each year already know the faculty extremely well. For them, the $30 is kissing ass and is a symbolic gesture of giving one's soul to enter a club. For the rest, it's the 'idiot tax', as the poster below aptly stated. The overwhelming majority of the 1200+ applicants each year have fantasies of rubbing themselves against a brand name. Sincerely yours, Enlightened One.

As the saying goes, "A fool and his money are soon parted," or would you prefer we call it an "idiot tax?"

Enlightened One and others: Actually, it is NOT true that the fellowship winners already know faculty extremely well, or that they already belong to some kind of club. A colleague of mine won one pretty much out of the blue this year. She was chosen because she has a good CV, an excellent dissertation, and really really good letters of recommendation. She did not know any of the institution's faculty, nor is she wealthy, foolish, or soul-selling. She's just a scholar looking for as many opportunities as she can find in a really bad job market. The benefits of being a fellow at one of these institutions far outweigh the $30 fee. And believe me, the years of hard work, excellent research, and a graduate education we've all undergone will cost us far more than the application fee. Yes, the fee is unfortunate, but I think the hyperbolic conversation here is unnecessary.

Dear Apologist, I understand your point, but of all your friend's accomplishments the single and primary sine qua non is the fact that she could afford the fee (that does put her in a kind of club, no?). It is not hyperbole or exaggeration to say that a great number of us can't afford to donate $$ to these schools--it is the plain and simple truth. For this reason alone, the competition is unfair and no one will know whether the best candidates have even been considered.

I do think these fees are unfortunate, as they really do add up. But going on the job market costs money. There's postage and copying costs, not to mention transcripts (one postdoc application without a fee requested official transcripts and actually ended up costing me more than Columbia or Michigan). At later stages there's getting to conferences, hotel rooms, interview clothes... I've definitely needed to tap into student loans for this career phase. But temporary poverty is a decision we all made--we all chose graduate school, it wasn't imposed on anyone. I don't have much sympathy for those who don't have $30 for an application fee. That just sounds like poor financial planning for the job market phase.

Student loans to pay application fees...nice.

I hate to point this out, but, though some universities are filthy, filthy rich, humanities institutes and departments are mostly big financial losses to the larger university, including schools helmed by Uncle Pennybags. Charging fees, and hence bringing in a bit of extra income, may help some of these programs avoid the chopping block. Also, let's face it, most conferences charge more than $30 for registration, even for students.

um.....Humanities institutes are NOT a financial loss for large universities. Contrary to capitalist-profit-seeking-corporate-style higher education's opinion, the Humanities are actually self-sustaining. The PROBLEM with Humanities is that they don't turn a big profit. But they are very inexpensive to run. The Sciences acutally drain money from universities, but they are also the recipients of all kinds of corporate grants and mainstream prestige. I'm pretty tired of people thinking the humanities are a money pit. They are not a money pit. They just aren't particularly lucrative, which renders them inexplicable to profit-seekers.

JRF's
Is it just me, or are there considerably fewer JRFs this year? I know it's early days yet, but still...

If memory serves, Oxford announce most of theirs towards Oct-Nov. I'm surprised Christ's Cambridge hasn't come up yet, though.

Is it true, as my adviser avers, that Americans *never* get JRFs?

No, it isn't. (And you can look at the college websites to see that for yourself - e.g. at least one of the current JRFs at Kings/Cambs has a US PhD). However, they are extremely competitive, so *most* people never get one. There might be a slight home advantage.

Also, the government is being extremely stingy with visas this year - evidently Jesus got "0 allowances" for research visas for non-EU candidates. Not only is it expensive to sponsor a Tier 2 visa, but it's increasingly difficult to even get one.

I live in one of the places and can second the observation that there are US and indeed continental European JRFs hanging about here and there. I also know of cases of US candidates winning them in the same year as a US postdoc and naturally choosing the latter. ('Naturally' because salaries for most SoFs this year are $50-60k and JRFs range from £16-24k. Of course there are housing/meal allowances, etc., but the discrepancy in pay and conditions seems to be getting, if anything, larger.)

Killam fellowships
Does anyone know anything about these? Can you only apply to one? Is it mostly Canadians who actually end up getting them?

I am not Canadian and have recently won one. My impression is that you can apply to any school that might sponsor you; department support is necessary to become a finalist, I believe.

Anyone is eligible to apply, Canadian or not. I know of several Americans that have got one - the "we prefer Canadians" bit is simply obligatory for Canadian hiring law. They are all administered independantly by the different schools that offer them, so you can apply to as many as you like (UBC, U Alberta, U Calgary, Dalhousie U, McGill U). You must contact a potential supervisor in the department you are interested in, as they must write a letter supporting your proposal.

University of Minnesota?
Has anyone heard of this fellowship: http://www.grad.umn.edu/postdocfellowship/

It has NO details listed and I e-mailed the address for more info and it bounced. Some kind of cruel Minnesota joke?

I shot a message to the contact listed at the bottom of the page sometime last fall and, sometime thereafter, got a message back indicating that they weren't offering any postdocs for the 2010-11 AY. Page has not been updated since then as far as I can tell. UMinn does offer the semester-long quadrant fellowships:

https://h-net.org/jobs/job_display.php?id=41180

I also emailed them last fall and was told that they didn't know when the postdocs would be offered again (they were last offered 2009-2010). I asked a friend on faculty there, and she couldn't get any more info either

Contacting Current Postdocs
Is it uncouth to contact current postdocs to get their insight into the application? It's easy to find info on some of the Mellon postdocs (ACLS, Illinois, Washington U.) on their websites. Or are they just as clueless as me?


 * Gentle poster (sorry, I had to write that), I'm of two minds about this. On the one hand, I think that there are no rules about seeking information about how to construct a good application from any source, including current fellows and the administrators. (Sometimes, you can get tips from emailing the folks who run these competitions). It's really up to the fellow you contact whether to respond to your email message. On the other, I worry that contacting a fellow might be perceived as trying to curry favour. That's a risk that might not be worth taking. So, I would say that it's not "uncouth" as you put it, but it might be risky. It's a personal judgment call. If you do decide to contact a current fellow, I think it would be considerate to keep your message brief and professional in tone, and include a caveat that you realize that you might be putting them in an awkward position, and you understand if they prefer not to respond (i.e. give them an out).
 * As a current holder of a good postdoc who has already been asked for this kind of advice/help, I can say that unless a.) your work bears some significant relation to theirs, and thus you can seem like an interested colleague rather than just someone in need of help; or (well, ideally and) b.) you have a substantive, specific question, it's not likely to get much of a reply. Partly that's just because I don't know what there is to say--speaking for myself, I have no friggin' clue why I got the postdoc over others (or this postdoc and not the other dozen I applied for!), and being in the position has not clarified that at all! I don't think I'd feel like my favor was being curried (I don't have any role in the selection process, after all), but given the intense pressures of being in the middle of applications myself, I just don't think I'd respond to any request that wasn't specific and that didn't feel more than just instrumental. And I'm *totally* the kind of person who will read and give feedback on and edit the work of my friends and colleagues; it's just that these days most p-d programs get 400-1400 applicants, so you can imagine what it'd be like if this started to be an expectation...I think it's vastly better to have committee members or other colleagues at your current institution--ideally those who know you and your project--look over materials and answer questions.
 * C'mon. The best place to get help is your own department--your colleagues, friends, and advisors. They (presumably) like you and want you to succeed and won't take it amiss that you're asking for a favor. Your department (or university career center) may even keep a file of successful fellowship and grant applications. It's quite presumptuous to ask a favor like that from a stranger.

Q. about "list of publications"
For post-docs that mandate a "list of publications" - what do people think about supplying a list of conference presentations? I don't have any publications (they're not expected of graduate students in my discipline) and I don't want to leave the page blank...

It seems unwise to me to list unpublished pieces under a "publications" heading. Won't your CV convey the information?


 * to OP: conference presentations go under that heading, not under "Publications". As you start to publish, you can insert headings on your CV: manuscripts in preparation, then, manuscripts under review (once you've submitted it), articles in peer-reviewed journals (once it's been published), articles in journals (to distinguish from peer-reviewed journals), chapters, reports, book reviews, etc. Do you have anything you are writing right now that you could submit to a journal? You can start your "manuscripts in preparation" heading and put it there. Maybe that will inspire you to submit it for publication sooner than later.

Q. about Letters of Recommendation
Early this month I applied to a post-doc that likely attracts many hundreds of applicants, if not over a thousand. One of my letters was submitted two days past the deadline. Although it was uploaded successfully (the professor received an email confirmation), I am concerned that it may not be accepted, regardless, and that therefore my application may be rejected automatically, if the fellowship administrators monitor and police submission dates on letters posted online. Does anyone have any insight into this sort of situation? (Apologies for the vague details.)
 * Honestly, this seems like one of those situations where you just have to let it go. You can't change the situation now -- if your application was automatically rejected on principle, then it's already happened. If, on the other hand, you're just curious about whether you're still under consideration, call up the fellowship administrator and see if s/he will answer your question -- no harm trying.
 * I agree with the above comment. Life is inherently unpredictable because we're all reliant on others. Even when you give it your best shot, someone else may slip up. You just have to roll with it. And then, you might be pleasantly surprised to find that a 2-day late letter won't disqualify you.
 * Some fellowships do accept letters that are in later than the said deadlines-- it's only two days late. But the applicant would still be in disadvantageous position where not all committee members may have a chance to read the letter as the letter would get added into the applicant's file late. Also some fellowships do state that, although it is "our" responsibility to make sure that all the letters are sent on time, late letters may not penalize applicants. It depends on a fellowship and the institution's policy. The best way might be calling the administrator--if you want to get it (worries and all the wonderings) over with now.

University of Texas, Austin
Has anyone heard of the following post-doc and can find the link to a more detailed description? This was forwarded to me, but no further link was provided.

Yes -- likewise, I got an email about this from my school's placement director. I've tried to find it posted elsewhere to no avail. My email included the info you posted, plus the following (cut and pasted, quotes aren't mine):
 * Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of English, University of Texas at Austin
 * Deadline: December 1
 * Letter, CV, 3 letters of recommendation, diss. Abstract, brief description of current research agenda
 * Postdoctoral Search, English Department, University of Texas, 1 University Station B5000, Austin, TX, 78712.

One-year postdoc, 1-1 teaching load. $48K salary plus benefits, $2K moving expenses. The field is completely open, but they express a (non-exclusive) desire to bring in someone who will (a) be able to make good use of the archival collections of the Harry Ransom Research Center or the Benson Collection, and/or (b) be able to take part in next year's topic at the Texas Institute for Literary and Textual Studies, which is "Poets and Formalists." Thus "a candidate who is strong in modern poetry would be particularly interesting, but we are open to all fields."