\u201cThe Mellon Foundation\u2019s support serves a vital purpose: to broaden and deepen humanities scholarship,\u201d says University of Rochester President Sarah Mangelsdorf. \u201cParticipating students will be better prepared as future scholars and leaders in the digital humanities.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner row_type=”row” type=”full_width” use_row_as_full_screen_section_slide=”no” text_align=”left” css_animation=”” box_shadow_on_row=”no”][vc_column_inner][vc_column_text]Since 2013, 16 doctoral students have completed the two-year fellowships. The renewed grant will support 16 additional students as they embrace new and emerging technologies to advance research in their fields, discover new avenues of inquiry, and serve as apprentices and mentors to undergraduates, as well as faculty members.<\/p>\n
Graduate students from the Departments of English, History, Philosophy, and the Graduate Program in Visual and Cultural Studies, which is an interdepartmental program, will be eligible for the fellowship. These students will work with technologies such as data visualization, new archival methods, textual markup and web construction, and digital editing.<\/p>\n
[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]\u201cOffering this fellowship to mid-doctoral students is a hallmark of the program,\u201d says Morris Eaves, director of the Andrew W. Mellon Graduate Program in the Digital Humanities and English professor. \u201cIt allows our students to acquire digital humanities skills and concepts, which they can then incorporate into their research at a critical time in their tenure as PhD candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the next five years, we\u2019ll also put new emphasis on the role of the digital humanities in collaborations that extend beyond individual research programs to the realm of what some call the \u2018public humanities\u2019,\u201d adds Eaves. \u201cThis will even better prepare PhDs for work lives that may not involve traditional tenure-track academic positions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scope and potential of this renewed grant is significant,\u201d adds Gloria Culver, dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. \u201cIt will expand interdisciplinary potential through increased collaborations across the University.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mellon Foundation\u2019s support has been invaluable in the expansion of humanities programming at Rochester. Most recently, in 2017, the College was awarded $1 million for its Humanities for Life<\/a> program, which reimagines the undergraduate experience to incorporate meaningful early engagement with the humanities.<\/p>\n In 2015, Mellon awarded the University a $100,000 grant to fund a pilot program to strengthen librarians\u2019 competencies in digital scholarship. In 2014, it committed $500,000 to establish an endowment for the University\u2019s continued partnership in the Central New York Humanities Corridor<\/a>, an interdisciplinary collaboration among the University, Syracuse University, and Cornell University that is focused on enhancing scholarship in the humanities.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMy experience overall as a Mellon Fellow… was one of constant development and collaboration… The weekly meetings, readings, and discussions enabled the development of what digital humanities is currently and what it could be in the future. It afforded many opportunities to learn skills, create projects, and meet like-minded scholars, building professional relationships regionally and throughout North America. The fellowship was truly an exciting period that undoubtedly influenced my scholarly thinking and prospects, and I am grateful for the opportunities I was granted.\u201d <\/span><\/h4>\n