The Denbo Center
Fellowship Program
With the support of the UT Chancellor’s Office, the Office of Research, Innovation, and Economic Development, our affiliated arts and humanities departments, and the College of Arts and Sciences, the Denbo Center supports the creation of groundbreaking humanities research through our fellowship programs.
Our fellowships are now open to UT faculty and graduate students working on research projects with humanistic methods and outcomes, as defined by the NEH:
“According to NEH’s enabling legislation, “the term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study and interpretation of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.”
Currently, we offer six faculty and four graduate-student full-year residencies, and also offer full-year residencies to the Marco Institute’s Haslam Dissertation fellow and to UT faculty who have won national humanities fellowships such as the ACLS or NEH fellowships.
Faculty Fellowships
Denbo Center offers faculty fellowships to affiliated humanities departments at UT to enable faculty to finish long-term research undertakings such as books and digital projects. A DCHA Fellowship is a full-year research release while in residency at the Denbo Center. Residency includes participating in the life of the Center by working daily in the office space provided at the DCHA, presenting work in progress, and engaging with other fellows and with visiting scholars in Chandler Seminars
Graduate Student Fellowships
The Denbo Center offers four Graduate Student Research Fellowships to PhD students in its nine affiliated departments who are past comprehensive exams and writing their dissertations. A DCHA Fellowship is a full-year research release from teaching and service while in residency at the Center. Residency includes research space at the Center, access to our library liaison and to designated travel funds, publicly presenting research at Chandler Seminars, and engaging with distinguished visiting scholars.
Chandler Seminars
The DCHA’s Chandler Seminars provide a workshop atmosphere where our faculty and graduate student fellows can present their research to one another and also discuss ideas with distinguished visiting scholars.
Underscoring how important intellectual collaboration is to honing ideas and developing new insights, the seminars ask fellows to present the research they will be undertaking during their residencies at the Denbo Center. These presentations are followed by roundtable discussions and critical feedback. The seminars provide a key venue for scholars to present their research to a public audience outside of their disciplinary fields and help prepare them to craft project descriptions for national and international grant and book proposals. The Chandler Seminars also provide an opportunity for fellows to engage in spirited discussions with DCHA visiting scholars.
The Chandler Seminars have been made possible by the generous donations of DCHA friends Atty. John Chandler and Elizabeth Chandler.
Riggsby Travel Fellowship
The Riggsby Travel Fellowship provides financial support to DCHA Faculty and Graduate Student Fellows (including the Marco dissertation fellow in residence) to help defray travel costs to conferences, museums, and archival institutions for the purpose of furthering their research. It is provided by the generous gifts of Mrs. Katherine Riggsby and the late Dr. Stuart Riggsby, formerly Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and a distinguished biochemist.
Here is a sampling of the faculty and graduate student research that has been enabled by the Riggsby Travel Fellowship:
- faculty fellows in the Late Antiquity Faculty Research Seminar attended a Regional Consortium on Late Antiquity;
- a graduate fellow working in 21st-century theater studies attended a performance of Oslo in New York City as part of her research on the mechanics of theatrical effects on the contemporary stage;
- a graduate fellow traveled to the Vatican Library archives to do research for her dissertation;
- a faculty fellow gave a professional talk at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China.
Application links and fellowship details are located in the accordion boxes above.
* If your department faculty’s research addresses key humanities issues and you wish the department to become a supporter of the DCHA and participate in this fellowship program, contact us at [email protected].
“The humanities are the main course of life, the essential core of meaning in the world, where our values and our best selves are defined.”
Amy J. ELias
Director
The Denbo Center for Humanities and the Arts
The Past
The Present
The Possible