Program Description
The Mellon Mays Program is designed to support you both financially and academically in order to prepare you to apply for PhD Programs.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Tuition Waiver (Fees not included) for 2 years;
Living Stipend each semester for 2 years;
A $3,900 summer stipend to support research and living expenses;
Funds to cover GRE preparation and application fees for doctoral programs;
The Mellon Mays Program pays its participants $10,000 upon completion of a PhD in a Mellon-approved discipline
ACADEMIC SUPPORT
The academic strength of the program is based on three key components:
A. Professionalization
B. Transmitting Experience through Mentorship and Peer Support
C. Making Concrete the Path from Undergraduate to Graduate School
We achieve this through these 4 aspects of the program:
The Mentoring Program
Each fellow is assigned a faculty mentor who supervises his/her research project. The fellow may also be involved in working on some aspect of his or her faculty mentor’s research project. Such close interactions with faculty mentors give fellows insight on life in academia and broadens their worldview, empowering them to envision themselves as young scholars.
Fellows work closely with their mentors to produce a senior thesis that will be used as a writing sample to apply successfully for PhD Programs.
The Mellon Seminar
Throughout the Fall and Spring semesters, all fellows attend a seminar that meets bi-weekly. Lunch is provided.
The seminar combines sessions that prepare fellows for graduate school applications and focus on professionalization with sessions in which key critical texts relevant to the humanities and the social sciences are addressed and read in a multi-disciplinary context.
The seminars also future guest lecturers from both CUNY and other institutions that discuss their experiences within academia as a way of creating role models and transmitting relevant experiences inter-generationally.
The Summer Intensive Program
In the summer immediately following acceptance into the program, new fellows spend 2-3 weeks in a writing and research seminar designed to sharpen their critical thinking skills while becoming familiar with academic writing. By the end of the summer program, new fellows will have laid the foundation for the research project that they will continue to develop during the two years of the program.
Research Opportunities
Students are required to give presentations at the annual NYC Regional MMUF conference.
In addition, the MMUF program encourages fellows to do archival research during the summer, attend summer research programs, as well as undergraduate and graduate conferences for young scholars.