2025-2026 Faculty Theme Fellowship

How Can the Humanities Save Humanity?

The Theme

The Robert Penn Warren Center’s theme for 2025-26 is How Can the Humanities Save Humanity?

Humanities as fields of study and in forms of creative expression are crucial to civic engagement, community, and personhood. But academic humanities have been losing favor on a climate of political, social, and economic polarization. How can the humanities support civic engagement? How can the humanities help us toward a more humane politics? How can the humanities have a reparative function with respect to inequality, partisanship, and violence?

The Program

Fellows will convene on a regular basis to discuss works-in-progress. The schedule and nature of the meetings will be established collectively by the Fellows, in consultation with the Center Director. At the end of the appointment, Fellows will be expected to have completed a significant research project (such as an article, book chapter, or, for more advanced projects, a book manuscript), a creative/artistic project, or a scholarly public engagement project. Fellows will also give a public talk or similar public event related to their work.

Eligibility

Tenured and tenure-track faculty in Arts & Science, Blair, Peabody, and Divinity are invited to apply. Fellows from A&S are eligible for one course release and a modest research budget. Faculty from other schools are encouraged to consult with their dean. This is a residential fellowship; all fellows, including those on leave, are expected to participate fully, in person, in the collaborative work and scheduled meetings of the group.

Note: Applicants must have the approval of their department chair or program director.

To Apply

Applications will include a CV and a 500-word project description with reference to this year’s theme. Please combine materials into a single PDF with clear identification of the applicant in the file name and email to rpwdirector@vanderbilt.edu. Inquiries may be sent there, as well.

Updated: The deadline to apply is now January 5, 2025.

All materials will be reviewed by the RPW Director and the center’s Faculty Advisory Committee and will be forwarded to the relevant dean of the applicant’s school (A&S, Blair, Peabody, and Divinity). Fellowships may be held only once every four years. Applicants should advise their department chairs that they are applying.