Funding
College of Arts and Science graduate students have access to a number of funding opportunities from sources both within and outside Vanderbilt. Below are lists of some of these opportunities. Please note that these grants each have their own, specific eligibility requirements and application procedures.
Keep in mind that these lists are by no means exhaustive. Your dissertation adviser, department's Director of Graduate Studies, or other mentors can assist you in locating funding sources in addition to those listed here.
Internal Funding Opportunities
Mellon Graduate Fellowships in Digital Humanities
- Mellon Graduate Fellows pursue training in digital humanities through coursework, research, or dissertation writing. These residential awards are intended for doctoral students in humanities or qualitative social sciences doctoral programs and students interested in enrolling in the Comparative Media Analysis and Practice (CMAP) program. The Center for Digital Humanities sends out announcements each spring with eligibility requirements and application procedures for these awards.
Robert Penn Warren Center Graduate Student Fellowships
- Robert Penn Warren Center Graduate Student Fellowships are residential awards that offer A&S graduate students in the humanities and the social sciences a service-free year of support to enable full-time work on the dissertation. The competition is open to students whose dissertation director and Director of Graduate Studies approve a timetable for the dissertation's completion by the end (August) of the fellowship year.
Travel Grants
- Travel Grants from the Graduate School support students who present their research at major regional, national, and international conferences. The Graduate Student Council provides travel grants to support students who present their personal research at conferences, symposia, workshops, etc.
Arts and Science Summer Language Training Grants
- These grants are intended to enable students to proceed to candidacy and/or complete their dissertation research in a timely manner. This award encompasses “language training” broadly, including language-related skills such as paleography or instruction in computer/technical languages. It does not provide funds for instruction in the primary language of one’s academic discipline, nor for training in English. Availability of these grants varies from year to year. In years when these grants are available, an announcement will be sent out to Arts and Science departments in the spring with eligibility requirements and application procedures.
Arts and Science Summer Research Awards
- Arts and Science Summer Research Awards awards provide funds for research expenses related to the doctoral thesis, other advanced research projects, or scholarly activities that significantly advance professional development. They are granted on a competitive basis. An announcement will be sent out to Arts and Science departments in the spring with eligibility requirements and application procedures for these awards.
Buchanan Library Fellowships
- The Buchanan Library Fellows Program creates in-depth learning experiences for students. Library Fellows participate in strategic projects for the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries over the course of a semester or two. With faculty and professional librarians as mentors, students work on tactical library projects that will benefit library users.
Center for Teaching Graduate Fellowships
- Each year, the Center for Teaching hires several Graduate Teaching Fellows as part of their efforts to mentor and train graduate students, including those serving as teaching assistants or instructors of record at Vanderbilt and those interested in developing teaching skills for future faculty careers.
The Curb Center Graduate Public Scholar Program
- This program facilitates initiatives that explore creative ways to implement research findings, develop evidence-based public policies, and transform academic work into publicly available resources that increase access to cultural life. Public Scholars engage in research with the potential to make an impact not only in academia but also in the public sphere. They receive research funds, shared office space in the Curb Center, mentoring from faculty public scholars and Curb faculty, and support for public sharing of the final product. The Curb Center sends out announcements in the spring with eligibility requirements and application procedures for these awards.
HASTAC Graduate Fellowships
- Each year, the Robert Penn Warren Center awards a limited number of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) Graduate Fellowships. HASTAC Scholars blog about digital activities on their home campus, host forums, organize events, and discuss new ideas, projects, experiments, and technologies that reconceive teaching, learning, research, writing, and structuring knowledge.
Writing Studio Employment
- Hourly Graduate Writing Consultants gain valuable pedagogical experience while working between five and fifteen hours per week.
External Funding Opportunities
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Data Management
- Grant-Writing Tips and References
- Human Subjects Research
- Office of the Provost, Internal Funding
- Sponsored Programs Administration
- Support for Dissertation Research and Writing
- Tips for Creating a Grant Budget