The Center for Humanities & the Arts invites faculty working in the humanities and the arts on the Boulder campus to apply for the CHA Faculty Fellowship. The application closely reflects external applications of the National Humanities Center and the American Council of Learned Societies. We hope you will consider applying to these external fellowships as well.

Meet the CHA Faculty Fellows!

Award

Fellowships consist of a two-course teaching reduction (taken in a single semester) for faculty teaching a 2/2 load; faculty teaching a 2/1 load will receive a single course reduction and be expected to take the fellowship in the semester they are scheduled to teach their single course.

Deadline for AY 2024-2025 Fellowships: October 1, 2023 

Thank you for applying to the CHA Faculty Fellowships. The next application cycle will be in Fall 2024 for fellowships in AY 2025-2026.  

Eligibility

  1. Must be an Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor working in the humanities and the arts on the Boulder campus.
  2. A faculty member who was previously awarded a CHA Faculty Fellowship is eligible to re-apply six years after receiving the fellowship (receiving the award in the 7th year, following guidelines for sabbatical). 

Selection Criteria

The selection committee will consider:

  • The intellectual merit of the project
  • The project's connection to the arts and humanities
  • The overall excellence of the applicant’s academic record
  • The timeliness of the project in the applicant’s career

Please know that this is a very competitive process. We receive many more applications than we have spots for, and the quality of the applications is invariably very strong. It is not uncommon for any competitive fellowship to have many disappointed applicants and for faculty to apply four (or more) times before they receive a fellowship.

Application Procedure

The strongest proposals will address the criteria outlined in the proposal description and will also explain why it is necessary for faculty to receive course release/s from teaching to make significant progress on their project.

Application Materials​

  • Fellowship Proposal: No more than four pages written free of jargon - remember, your application will be read by a committee of your faculty peers across the spectrum of arts and humanities departments. Strong proposals often tell a story about your scholarship/artistic work, so in writing your statement, keep in mind the following:
    • Significance: Demonstrate the potential impact of your work.
    • Project Design: Does your project address all relevant issues in a form that offers a coherent engagement with your research topic?
    • Feasibility: Can you demonstrate that you will be able to make significant progress during your fellowship towards the timely completion of your scholarly project?
    • Qualifications: What past work has led you to take up this specific project at this point in your career?
      Format: Four-page (max), double-spaced PDF, 12-pt font, 2 MB max file size
       
  • Outline: One page (12-point font) of the structure of your project—this can include chapter descriptions. NOTE: if the applicant is an artist, you can upload images, videos,  sound files or website as an example of your project. Limit portfolios to 10 pages and video files to 5 minutes. 
    Format: One page PDF (single or double spaced), 12-pt font. 10MB max file size (artists sharing larger files, please contact chagrants@colorado.edu)
     
  • CV: 4-page maximum
    Files must be less than 2 MB
    Allowed file types: PDF
     
  • Complete the Application Form and upload the application materials

We have also included successful CHA Faculty Fellowship proposalssample fellowship proposals of scholars who have successfully received an NHC and/or ACLS fellowship as well as sample proposals from UNC Chapel Hill’s Institute for the Arts and Humanities faculty fellowship program (which is nearly identical to the CHA’s) in the hopes that this will aid prospective faculty candidates in writing their applications. Please note that these are examples and not absolute indicators of what all successful applications should look like. There is no magical formula for a successful application. And although these examples are not first book projects, we encourage junior faculty to apply for revision of their dissertations or to work on first monographs.

Expectations 

  • As part of accepting the CHA faculty fellowship, there is an expectation that faculty fellows will meet regularly during the semester they hold the fellowship to share work and receive feedback on your projects.
  • Selected fellows will be asked to serve on a future selection committee for CHA faculty fellowships
  • Project changes that are so significant as to look unrecognizable from the original proposal you submitted may require the faculty steering committee to meet and evaluate whether you can continue to hold the fellowship.
  • By May 31, faculty fellows must submit a final report on the research completed and plans for publication. Failure to submit a written summary will make you ineligible to receive further funding by the CHA.
  • During the academic year, fellows will be invited to CHA-sponsored events. 

CHA Faculty Fellowship Application Form