COUNCIL FOR RACE AND ETHNIC STUDIES

The Council for Race and Ethnic Studies (CRES) requests proposals for its 2023-2024 graduate student fellowship awards. As a collaboration between the Asian American Studies (AASP) and Latina and Latino Studies Programs (LLSP) to advance the interdisciplinary study of race at Northwestern, CRES supports undergraduate, graduate, and faculty fellows. The Council’s graduate student fellowship program seeks to generate and support interdisciplinary research that advances the study of race and Ethnic Studies scholarship at Northwestern.

Graduate students will be part of a CRES fellows cohort; receive mentoring by CRES faculty; present their work at a research colloquium; students in their earlier years will serve one quarter as a Teaching Assistant while students who have advanced to candidacy may teach a course that they propose; and join a community of scholars dedicated to work that is interdisciplinary and oriented both to an analysis of race that emerges from an Ethnic Studies paradigm. We welcome fellowship applications from Northwestern graduate students in all disciplines. 

• Be assigned a mentor from among the CRES faculty;

• Meet regularly throughout the fellowship term to discuss progress on their projects with the CRES scholarly community; 

• Be part of a CRES Graduate Fellows cohort that attends CRES workshops and other CRES-sponsored and relevant AASP/LLSP Program hosted talks and events;

• Present work at the end of the year;

• Have the opportunity to develop and teach a CRES-related course or serve as a Teaching Assistant for a CRES faculty member housed in AASP or LLSP during the following academic year.

Fellowships include four quarters of funding (equivalent to the Standard TGS rate) and $2,000 in research funds for the proposed project. TGS will cover the cost of tuition and health insurance benefits. Recipients of these fellowships will be able to extend their existing funding toward support in their sixth year. Fellowships will be awarded by March 2023; research funds may be applied to summer or fall 2023 or to winter and spring 2024. Applicants must be enrolled in a Northwestern doctoral program.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Applications are due by 11:59 PM on February 1, 2023.

• A four-page, double-spaced (maximum) research proposal or dissertation description. The proposal should describe your research project in a way that is accessible to an interdisciplinary audience; identify your methodology and explain how it advances the study of race and contributes to Ethnic Studies; contextualize your research within your field or discipline; and explain your anticipated outcomes from your fellowship (a dissertation chapter, a creative piece, particular data gathered, etc.).

• A two-page, double-spaced statement that explains both how your work will benefit from being in a CRES collective that includes faculty and students in AASP and LLSP, and also how your work will contribute to growing race and Ethnic Studies at Northwestern.

• C.V.

• One writing sample, not to exceed 20 pages (double spaced); shorter samples such as conference papers are welcome.

• A budget proposal with timeline for the $2000 research funds

• For ABD students, provide a one-page course description for your proposed course with possible reading materials

• Unofficial graduate transcripts

• A letter of recommendation from your primary faculty mentor should be sent directly from the faculty member to our online portal by February 7.

Applications must contain all of the above elements to be complete.

Applications will be judged on their scholarly merit: the originality, quality, clarity, and importance of the proposed research project, its relevance to the study of race and the advancement of Ethnic Studies, as well as the applicant’s ability to contribute productively to and benefit from an interdisciplinary setting.

LETTER OF RECOMMENDATION

Your application must include a letter of recommendation from your dissertation chair or committee member that comments on your ability to contribute to Ethnic Studies through the study of race. There is a field in the application portal where you will submit your faculty reference's name and email; the system will send them an email prompt and link for uploading their letter. Recommendations are due on February 7, 2023. We suggest that you request letters of recommendation well in advance of the application deadline, so your references can prepare to submit their letter by this date.

QUESTIONS?