Undergraduate Research Fellows Program
The Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellows Program is intended to bring more undergraduates into the Hall Center's intellectual community, joining with faculty members and graduate students in the humanities.
The Undergraduate Fellows program is something I would recommend to anyone …. As an Air Force trained student of Engineering and History, it was sometimes hard for me to see the bigger picture of what the humanities are. Over the course of a year, the fellowship provided me with the incentive and the opportunity to explore a wide range of humanities topics from philosophy to science fiction in a way I likely would have never done on my own initiative. One of my favorite moments was seeing one of my faculty mentors present their newest book. It gave me a sense of what I might be able to accomplish in my own career ….
- Past Hall Center for the Humanities Undergraduate Fellow
Seeking Undergraduate Fellow Applicants
The Hall Center is seeking five intellectually engaged, self-motivated students to become part of the 2024-25 cohort. Applicants must be passionate about the humanities (literature, languages, cultural studies, history, philosophy, religious studies, etc.) or curious about how these fields connect to each other, and to life beyond college. Applicants must have the time and energy to commit to the program.
Fellows will attend select Hall Center events, meet some of the top scholars and creatives in the humanities today, and be mentored by faculty and community members for an enriching undergraduate experience that will strengthen networks and bolster professional skills. The cohort will also share ideas for the selection of one of the Hall Center’s speakers for the following academic year.
Each Hall Center Undergraduate Fellow will receive a free set of books by this year’s speakers, a $300 stipend after attending at least four events in the fall semester, and a $300 stipend for attending four events in the spring semester.
To Apply
Please send the following information, along with your full CV or resume, to the Hall Center at hallcenter@ku.edu by Friday, Sept. 13, 2024 at 11:59 pm:
- Name
- Email address
- Hometown
- Major
- Class year
- Course schedule this semester
- Non-academic commitments scheduled this year (jobs, clubs, travel, family care, etc.)
- Statement one: Why do you think the humanities are important to an undergraduate education? (max. 200 words)
- Statement two: What makes you a good fit for joining this cohort of Undergraduate Fellows? (max. 200 words)
About the Hall Center
The Hall Center for the Humanities is one of 11 research centers on KU’s campus, located at 900 Sunnyside Avenue. The Hall Center’s mission is to promote and support “humanistic inquiry”: scholarly and creative productions that help us understand who we are as people, how we relate to others, what has led us to where we are today—in short, what it means to be human, whether in the present moment, in times past, or in possible futures, across a wide range of locations and cultures.
The term humanities encompasses a diverse set of disciplines: Literature, history, philosophy, and religious studies are most frequently cited, but scholars who frequent the Hall Center come from interdisciplinary units at KU such as African & African American Studies, Classics, East Asian Languages & Cultures, Indigenous Studies, Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies. They also come from the arts, social sciences, and even STEM—fields like Anthropology, Communication Studies, Math, Music, and Visual Arts—all seeking to integrate humanities methodologies in their research.