Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Program

for Graduate Students in the College of Arts and Letters

Co-sponsored by the Graduate School, the College of Art and Letters, and the Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning

Overview:
The Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Program provides four advanced graduate students of the College of Arts and Letters with a mentored experience of research and teaching at a prominent liberal arts college or research university. The fellow will engage in research related to his or her thesis and prepare to teach a course at the host institution in the fall semester. It is expected that the fellow will teach the course in the spring semester under the guidance of the mentor, unless the host institution does not allow such an arrangement.  In the latter case, the fellow will assist the mentor with his/her teaching activities. Students selected for this fellowship will have their standard stipend paid directly by the Graduate School with an additional $5,000 paid by the Associate Dean for Research, Graduate Studies, and Centers. The fellow will identify a mentor (and host institution) in collaboration with his/her thesis advisor and in consultation with the home department’s Director of Graduate Studies (DGS). The mentor will receive a $1,500 honorarium from the Kaneb Center.

Departments of the College of Arts and Letters wishing to participate in this program can nominate up to two graduate students for a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship.  Optimal candidates will be on their fourth or fifth year of study at the time of application.  Candidates on their sixth year of study are eligible to apply but must articulate a compelling case for receiving additional graduate funding.  Applications must be submitted to the Kaneb Center and will be reviewed by the Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Committee, whose members represent the Graduate School, the College of Art and Letters, and the Kaneb Center.  The final selection of the four fellows will be made by the Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Committee.

Responsibilities of Fellows and Mentors:
Fellows should engage the full academic life of the department at the host institution. They should meet graduate students and faculty in diverse disciplines, especially those in research areas related to interests of the fellow. Fellows are expected to attend departmental colloquia and seminars. They should also attend courses, most appropriately, graduate courses offered by mentors in fields related to the fellows’ research interests.  Mentors can advise the fellows on scholarly and pedagogical issues.

Fellows should participate in or initiate conversations about teaching practices, student learning, course construction, and classroom strategies.  In the fall, the fellow will prepare to teach a course in the host department with the guidance of the mentor. In the spring, the fellow will teach the course under the supervision of the mentor (or serves as a Teaching Assistant for one of the mentor’s courses). Both the fellow and the mentor should submit to the Kaneb Center independent final reports that evaluate the fellow’s experience as detailed in the Selection Process and Procedures section of this document.

Application Procedure for a Pre-Doctoral Fellowship:
In the fall semester, College of Arts and Letters departments should hold a selection process (preferably conducted by their Graduate Committees) and nominate up to two graduate student candidates. Candidates selected by their departments should submit the following application materials to the Kaneb Center:

1. A cover letter from the student candidate that includes a description of the candidate’s research and teaching experience, status of the dissertation, expected date of completion of the dissertation, and career goals. This letter should also include the name, credentials, and appropriateness of the prospective mentor, a brief discussion of the proposed host institution, and a discussion of the potential benefits of this experience for the candidate. 
   
   
2. The candidate’s Curriculum Vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, Course Instructor Feedback (CIF), and TCE records.
   
   
3. A letter from the DGS nominating the candidate and commenting on the student's research and teaching qualities.
   
   
4. A letter from the thesis advisor that endorses the candidate’s participation in the program. This letter should comment on the student's research and teaching ability and discuss the benefit of this experience for the prospective fellow, making reference to the relevant qualities of the proposed mentor. A brief academic biography of the mentor should be included.
   
   The letter should also describe the student’s progress towards the dissertation and the expected date of completion.
   
   
5. A letter of agreement from the proposed Mentor. Applications will be considered if there is a letter of interest that indicates what details need to be worked out for an agreement to be reached.

Enclose the application materials in an envelope addressed to:

        ATTN: Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Program
        The Kaneb Center
        353 DeBartolo Hall
        University of Notre Dame

The application materials required of the candidate should be submitted independently from the other application materials.

Deadline: All application materials must reach the Kaneb Center no later than October 16th. 

Selection Process and Procedures:
December: Selection of Fellows
The Pre-Doctoral Fellowship Committee will review all applications, will invite finalists for interviews, and will select the four Fellows. All candidates, their thesis advisors, directors of graduate studies, and department chairs will be informed of the decision of the Committee by December 20th by official letter.  Mentors will receive notifications in the cases of positive decisions. The letters to the mentors and selected fellows will review their respective responsibilities. A statement of commitment will be requested from the mentor. The fellow is required to write a letter of acceptance of the Fellowship addressed to the Kaneb Center.

January – March: Description of Arrangements at the Host Institution
The fellow, in consultation with the thesis advisor, will make arrangements at the host institution, attending to the requirements of the Fellowship as already set out above. The details of these arrangements must be reported to the Kaneb Center by March 31st.

Following the Fellowship Period (No later than June 30th), the Fellow and the Mentor should submit the following via e-mail to the Kaneb Center, kaneb@nd.edu:

1. Independent final reports describing and assessing the mentored experience from the perspectives of both research and teaching and providing a summary of activities including a research progress report. The fellows report should also include a detailed description of the course that they prepared and taught.
   
   The fellow should also facilitate the submission of the mentor’s report. Mentor stipends will be paid upon receipt of their report and any paperwork required to process the payment.