The Mellon Environmental Stewardship, Place, and Community Initiative (MESPAC) is seeking interested graduate students to participate in a cohort of faculty and graduate students designing curriculum. With three to four faculty, the four to six Graduate Fellows will design a humanities course focused on Indigenous epistemologies and environmental stewardship and will mentor undergraduate students who enroll in the subsequent course(s). The course will be a one-credit, half-semester course, divided into two parts: classroom and themed, engaged humanities “labs.” The course will be offered three to four times in 2022–23, during the semester and/or May Term; each graduate fellow will participate in co-teaching the course once. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, this project is a three-campus initiative that prioritizes integration of Indigenous epistemologies and concepts of environmental stewardship in the humanities. 

The Humanities Futures Labs graduate fellowships involve two components: designing humanities labs in May–June 2022, and co-teaching one of the courses with labs during the 2022–2023 academic year. 

Graduate Fellows will receive the following benefits:

• A $5,000 fellowship, divided as follows: $3,000 for the May Term 2022 design work and $2,000 for the 2022–2023 co-teaching and lab mentoring. This will not conflict with a regular TA or RAship.
• Professional experience developing creative pedagogies such as Humanities Labs and humanities curriculum integrating diverse ways of knowing and centering underrepresented perspectives; experience mentoring undergraduates. 
• Professional development opportunities including workshops on incorporating engaged research and practice into humanities curricula, and preparing applications for small liberal arts college teaching positions.
• Mentorship from faculty across three campuses.
• Connection to the community of scholars and community partners connected to the Mellon Environmental Stewardship, Place, and Community Initiative.
   

Applications will be due May 13, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. CT.

Learn more about the program, and how to apply here.

 

The humanities-led Environmental Stewardship, Place, and Community Initiative funded by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation focuses on centering Indigenous epistemologies and other ways of knowing to shape how we think about relationships with the planet and each other.