Endowed Summer Fellowship for Archival Work in English Studies

This fellowship provides summer support to doctoral candidates enrolled in the Department of English or Comparative Literature. To be eligible, students must have achieved doctoral candidacy, plan to conduct significant primary research in an established physical archive, demonstrate the need to conduct their research in that particular archive, and devote a portion of the summer in which the fellowship is provided on site at the location of the archive.

This $5,000 fellowship is intended to contribute toward travel, living and research expenses associated with the archival work, as well as the costs of courses or programs in archival methods designed to help students develop research skills.

The English Archival Award is designed to fully support students over the summer. Teaching assistants and administrative assistants will not be eligible to teach or work during the summer of the award. Research assistants who must be in the lab to do their project must be relieved of lab duties that are not related to their research. The award funding does not supplement a student’s graduate assistantship stipend; the funding replaces the student’s summer stipend or salary.

Eligibility Information
To be eligible, the applicant must:

• Be enrolled in the English Program or in the Comparative Literature Program;
• Reach doctoral candidacy by June 1, 2027;
• Conduct significant primary research in an established physical archive and demonstrate their need to conduct the research in that particular archive; and
• Devote a significant portion of the award summer on site at the location of the archive.

Students may receive the English Archival Summer Fellowship only one time. Fellowships may not be deferred. Fellowships are awarded to specific students and are not transferable to other students.

Application Requirements
A complete application must include:

• A student-written proposal (750-1000 words) discussing the plan to conduct research in a specific archive over the summer, and how it will significantly advance progress toward a degree;
   **students are not permitted to use ChatGPT or other AI software.
• The student’s CV (2-page limit);
• Letter of support from the student’s academic advisor describing the accomplishments and eligibility of the student. 2-page limit (Advisor to submit separately).
• Recommendation Surveys from the program’s Director and Coordinator that collect information about programmatic standards and norms. (Program to submit separately).

Application Instructions: To apply for the English Archival Award, students must submit their student-written statement and CV on Scholarship Universe (SU) by the deadline.

Please note, upon logging on to Scholarship Universe, students will be directed to the SU student dashboard. Once on the student dashboard, click on “Scholarships” on the left sidebar to view matched opportunities. (Answering additional questions is optional.) To apply, find the award in the matched opportunities list and click the “Apply” button, then click the box to verify eligibility.

Application Deadline: Wednesday, March 3, 2027

Contact Information: For questions, please contact Ms. Robyn Kotzker, Program Director for Office of Funding Opportunities (rkotzker@umd.edu |  301-405-0281).