Each year the American Studies program funds a dissertation completion fellowship in conjunction with the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. This award is designed to support innovation and excellence in graduate student research in the field of American Studies. The fellowship offers graduate students a service-free year of support to enable full-time work on the dissertation.

The award includes tuition, health insurance, a stipend of $18,000, a research budget of $2,000, and affiliation with the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. Fellows will be integrated into the center’s interdisciplinary scholarly community through participation in regular lunches, seminars, and special events. As the capstone of his/her fellowship experience, the fellow will publicly present his/her work to the American Studies community.

Priority will be given to students who have completed the American Studies Graduate Certificate.

Applications should be made directly to the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities.

Recent Dissertation Fellows   

Sarah Glynn, 2010/2011
Department of Sociology

“You Think It, They Ink It: Narratives and Identity Formation in Tattooing Service Counters”  

Patrick Jackson, 2009/2010
Department of History

“Evangelicals and American Political Culture, 1925-1978”  

Derrick R. Spires, 2008/2009
Department of English
“Re-imagining a ‘Beautiful yet Baneful Object’: Early African American Theories of Citizenship, 1794-1865”  

George Sanders, 2007/2008
Department of Sociology

“‘Late’ Capital: Negotiating the New American Way of Death”