Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program

About MMUF

Established in the 1988/1989 academic year, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) is committed to broadening the range of scholarly perspectives in the US academy, with a focus on the humanities and the humanistic social sciences. Its name honors Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the noted African American educator, statesman, minister, former president of Morehouse College, and mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Founded with an initial cohort of eight member institutions, the program has grown to include 47 programs, including three consortia.

To date, the program has produced more than 1,200 PhDs, more than 800 of whom are currently college professors. Numerous others have taken their valuable humanities training into venues ranging from museums and nonprofit organizations to publishing houses and government positions. At any given time, about 800 MMUF fellows are enrolled in PhD programs, while the fellowship supports approximately 500 undergraduate students each year.

Through activities that emphasize mentoring, research support, and student-cohort building, MMUF programs identify and support students of great promise and help them become scholars and professionals of the highest distinction.

MMUF is proud of its legacy of leading scholars whose perspectives greatly enrich research and teaching in their fields.

The program has been a part of Queens College since 1989, and since then more than 25 fellows have earned PhDs and are teaching across the country. Currently, several fellows are in graduate school completing dissertations and each year new fellows join the Mellon community! Through challenging seminars, research projects, close mentorship, academic professionalization, and travel opportunities, the MMUF program prepares its participants for the rigor of graduate school and shapes them into competitive applicants able to join top-quality PhD programs with an eye to become professors.

Click here to view a brief biography of Dr. Mays.