This call is closed.

The Program

Vanderbilt University’s College of Arts and Science and Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities invites applications for the Collaborative Humanities Postdoctoral Program (CHPP).

CHPP fellows will bring their interests and expertise in the humanities to the most pressing problems of the present, from the local to the global. They will develop collaborative research projects, develop and teach a new undergraduate course in their track, and broadly hone their professional skills through programming and faculty mentoring.

The three-year fellowship period will support early career scholars’ efforts to transform and expand humanistic study and education in one or more of three tracks that inherently foreground issues of racial, gender, and social justice:

• Urban Humanities: defined as the humanistic study of the past, present and future of cities and their inhabitants in a global context, viewed through the lens of spatial justice and working at the intersections of humanities, urban planning and design, and civic engagement.
• Environmental Humanities: the study of humans’ historical, cultural, social, and ethical relationship to the environment, guided by a commitment to sustainability and environmental justice.
• Global Humanities: the humanistic study of the implications of the global movement of people, goods, and ideas, with a particular focus on issues of dislocation, belonging, and citizenship.

A total of six Collaborative Humanities Fellowships will be awarded to individuals who received a PhD in the humanities or the humanistic social sciences between August 1, 2021 and July 1, 2024. The three-year fellowships—which will extend from fall 2024 to the end of spring 2027—will provide a salary of at least $56,484, benefits, a $2,000 research fund, and $1,000 for one-time moving expenses to Nashville when applicable.

Postdoctoral fellows’ duties will include:

• teaching an established course in the fall term while developing new undergraduate courses in their track to teach in the spring (0:1 course load in the first year; 1:1 in the second and third years);
• planning and participating in working groups and programming with their cohort in and across the three tracks;
• approaching their urban, environmental and/or global research questions with the spirit of innovation and collaboration;
• robust engagement with the intellectual life of the campus and Robert Penn Warren Center.

• Successful candidates will have received a PhD in the humanities or the humanistic social sciences between August 1, 2021 and July 1, 2024.
• Fellowships are up to three years, with annual renewals, and will begin August 16, 2024.
• Candidates must have a J-1 visa or equivalent and be eligible to work in the United States for the duration of the three-year fellowship.

To apply, please include:

• Application narrative (up to 1,000 words) indicating your professional interest in at least one of the three tracks (urban, environmental, global) and suitability for this specific fellowship;
• CV (no more than 5 pages);
• Scholarly writing sample (up to 20 pages);
• Evidence of teaching effectiveness and interest in innovative, interdisciplinary, and immersive approaches (up to 5 pages);
• Three letters of recommendation.

All materials, including letters of recommendation, should be uploaded to Interfolio by November 1, 2023.

Inquiries

Please direct all questions to Holly Tucker, Director, Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities: rpwdirector@vanderbilt.edu.