Alberto Ledesma, Wednesdays 11am-12pm and by appointment, 2411 Dwinelle Hall
Maria Faini, Tuesdays 1-2pm and by appointment, 2413 Dwinelle Hall
Applicants must be a second semester Sophomore standing and have at least a 3.4 GPA. Participation in the program is limited to students considering graduate study towards a Ph.D. in a Mellon-designated field.
MMUF is part of the Higher Learning program of the Mellon Foundation and reflects one of its three grantmaking priorities:
Elevating the knowledge that informs more complete and accurate narratives of the human experience and lays the foundation for more just and equitable futures.
Student applicants to MMUF will be evaluated on the basis of their prior coursework, their plans for a major, and their potential to bring historically marginalized or underrepresented perspectives to the academy, including by producing scholarly research that reflects and satisfies the above-stated goal of the Higher Learning program.
Some research themes and rubrics that may satisfy this goal include, but are not limited to, the following: historical and contemporary treatments of race, racialization, and racial formation; intersectional experience and analysis; gender and sexuality; Indigenous history and culture; questions about diaspora; coloniality and decolonization; the carceral state; migration and immigration; urban inequalities; social movements and mass mobilizations; the transatlantic slave trade; settler colonial societies; and literary accounts of agency, subjectivity, and community.
While it is not required that student applicants work within the above or related rubrics, preference may be given to applicants who do.
Students from all Arts & Humanities majors are encouraged to apply to MMUF if they are interested in pursuing a Ph.D. in an eligible Mellon field (click here for a full list), as are students in a variety of social science disciplines. Past recipients have included students in the following departments:
