This information session is for students interested in applying for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship in Public Humanities. The Public Humanities is an interdisciplinary approach to engaging audiences beyond the walls of the university. Combining methods, theories and practices from humanities disciplines in projects with a public- and/or community-facing stance, public humanities work models the value and relevance of history, philosophy, literature and the visual arts in action. That work can serve as a form of community knowledge-building and public engagement that make manifest the role of humanistic inquiry in civic life and culture. And, such work happens most effectively when it is built on reciprocal relationships with community members and/or partners. We are especially interested in proposals rooted in research-based projects that imagine, or extend existing, connections with contemporary, real-time issues. During the fellowship year, the fellow will be "in residence" with the Odyssey Project, HRI's humanities education program for low-income members of the Champaign-Urbana area community.
