UCR applications to the Sawyer Seminar limited submission call are due by 11:59PM on September 25, 2024.

Submit via email to katharine.henshaw@ucr.edu.

For questions about the application process, contact Katharine Henshaw. Do not reach out to the Mellon Foundation directly.

Complete UCR applications include:

A. Preliminary proposal narrative of up to 3 pages (single spaced, 12 pt. font) with the following components:

• The names of the PI’s for the seminar with departments and/or affiliations
  • Note: the PI and Co-PIs must be humanities faculty, but a broad range of participants from the arts, social science and other disciplinary perspectives should be included as collaborators.
• An overview of the proposed seminar project including:
  • key areas of inquiry related to academic freedom and democracy in the American university
  • the significance and potential impact of the central questions to be addressed
• A brief description of how this humanities-led inquiry might reform or reimagine existing institutional structures and campus cultures
• A brief statement regarding how this project
  • addresses social and racial justice
  • proceeds from humanistic inquires and centers humanities disciplines
• A description of the way the seminar will engage participants with diverse institutional and disciplinary affiliations. (Seminar participants may include faculty in outside disciplines including nearby colleges, arts organizations, and professional schools.)
• An indication if the project will hire a post-doctoral scholar or graduate student researchers. (See Budget Guideline). Budget information is not needed at this stage of the application.

B. Attachments – 2-page CV’s of PI’s

• Sept 9, 2024 – Limited Submission call opens
• Sept 25, 2024 (11:50PM) – UCR application deadline
• Oct 7-11, 2024 – UCR selected applicant notified
• Oct 21, 2024 – Preliminary proposal & budget due
• Nov 4, 2024 – Final proposal & budget due
• Nov 5-19, 2024 – Campus approvals and Kuali routing
• Nov 20, 2024 – Submission to Mellon Foundation
• February 2025 – Selection decisions announced
• March – June, 2025 – Finalists revise proposals for submission to Mellon Board of Trustee’s
• June 2025 – Finalists selected for award

• Size of competition – This year, all participating Sawyer Seminar institutions have been invited to apply. A panel of distinguished faculty will select up to 20 finalists for award.
• UCR Selection Committee – A committee of CHASS faculty colleagues representing a range of disciplines will select one proposal for full development.
• Budget and proposal development support will be provided for the UCR applicant through the Center for Ideas and Society.

• Applications will be evaluated on
  • the centrality of humanities leadership to the proposed project;
  • evidence of concrete buy-in and support for the proposed structure from university administration;
  • the strength of the plan for disseminating the project’s findings across campus units to catalyze institutional transformation. (Examples: white paper or town hall, etc.)
• Competitive proposals will demonstrate the ways in which the humanities might reform or reimagine existing institutional structures and campus cultures. For example, they might promise to amplify the work of a pre-existing institutional committee or envision a new committee or seminar-style initiative, with academic freedom and democracy in the American university as the central subject of inquiry.
• Preference will be given to those that seek to:
  • bridge the gap between the socially equitable world envisioned in much humanities scholarship and the policies and practices characterizing today’s universities;
  • empower humanists to be active participants in the strategic conversations and planning that many universities are engaged in or preparing to undertake;
  • imagine new and revised university structures that would enhance the growth of the humanities and promote the realization of more just futures;
  • include scholars, administrators, experts and other participants with differing perspectives from UCR and nearby institutions.

Note: The selected UCR finalist will develop a full proposal with the support of administrative staff.

• Full proposals will include
  • an executive summary (description of proposed work).
  • the rationale for raising the indicated problem/topic, the central questions to be addressed, and the potential significance of the inquiry to be pursued, including its impact on the institution.
  • a description of the cases to be studied and the humanities methodologies to be brought to bear on them; the thematic “threads” that will run through the seminar; and evidence of concrete buy-in and support from university administration.
  • Note: The text covering these first three components typically ranges from 3,000 to 6,000 words and must not exceed 8,000 words
• If support for a postdoctoral fellow and/or dissertation research fellow(s) is envisioned, the procedures to be used in recruiting for these positions. Please note: hiring of postdocs or awarding dissertation research fellowships is not a requirement this year.
• A well-developed preliminary plan for the seminar that outlines the specific topics to be addressed in each session, provides the names and qualifications of the scholars and community partners who would ideally participate, and offers direction for developing a resource that summarizes and aims to institute the seminar’s findings.
• A budget and budget description, informed by the budget guidance below.
• Short CVs (1-2 pages) for the principal seminar organizers. Information about other core participants should be limited to a few lines of text included as an appendix.
• An endorsement letter signed by an institutional officer (such as a Dean, Vice-Provost, or Chancellor).