Digital Humanities Intensive, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Summer Institute

Summer Institute Director

June 2018 – Present

Howard University

Washington, DC

https://newsroom.howard.edu/newsroom/article/8416/meet-inaugural-class-howard-university-s-mellon-mays-undergraduate-fellowship

Howard University, Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program is the centerpiece of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s initiatives to increase diversity in the faculty ranks of institutions of higher learning. The program began in 1988 when William G. Bowen, then the president of the Foundation, and Mellon program associate Henry Drewry founded the organization.

Since 1988, the fellowship has awarded grants to its member institutions, which are invited to apply for membership as an independent institution. Among the 48-member institutions, Howard University is currently the only Historically Black College or University selected as an independent  institution.

The fundamental objective of MMUF is to address, over time, the problem of underrepresentation in the academy at the level of college and university faculties. This goal can be achieved both by increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups (URM) who pursue PhDs and by supporting the pursuit of PhDs by students who may not come from traditional minority groups but have otherwise demonstrated a commitment to the goals of MMUF. The MMUF program is designed to encourage fellows to enter PhD programs that prepare students for professorial careers; it is not intended to support students who intend to go on to medical school, law school or other professional schools.