Master's Fellowships for TCU Faculty and Staff

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation granted the American Indian College Fund funding to assist faculty members at tribal colleges and universities (TCU's) to earn master's degrees. TCU staff members who are likely to become faculty members are also eligible for these fellowships. Fellowships may be used for tuition, fees, books, travel to classes, and other educational expenses.

The deadline to apply is Tuesday, May 31, 2022 (for summer fellowship cycle) or Friday, July 1, 2022 (for fall fellowship cycle).

* Please fill out all applicable fields.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

- Be a current tribal college faculty member or staff member likely to become a faculty member in the future. The College Fund holds a strong preference for collaborating with the TCU's to "grow their own" faculty members from their communities.

- Be admitted to or enrolled in an accredited master's degree program. The Mellon Foundation prefers to fund graduate degrees in the humanities; please see below for preferred fields of study.

- Be committed to completing a master's degree within two years after completion of the fellowship.

- Be committed to serving at a TCU for at least two years after completion of the fellowship.

- Posses a demonstrated commitment to American Indian education and scholarship.

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Preferred Humanities Fields

- Anthropology

- Area/Cultural/Ethnic/Gender Studies

- Classics

- Geography

- English - Film, Cinema and Media Studies (Theoretical Focus)

- Musicology, Ethnomusicology and Music Theory

- Foreign Languages and Literatures

- History and History of Art

- Linguistics - Literature

- Performance Studies (Theoretical Focus)

- Philosophy and Political Theory

- Religion and Theology

- Sociology

- Theater (Theoretical Focus)

- Interdisciplinary Studies: Interdisciplinary areas of study may be eligible if they have one or more Mellon fields at their core.

Requirements for Accepted Award

Individuals who qualify and are awarded funds will be required to do the following:

- Attend a two-day fellowship orientation program.

- Authorize regular progress reports and contact between the master's degree granting university and the College Fund's Faculty Development Program Officer.

- Work with peers and mentors in the Master's Fellowship support program.

- Maintain regular contact with the College Fund's Program Officer during and two years after completion of Master's program.

- Complete a master's degree within two years of being awarded the fellowship.

Application Checklist & Required Documents

Applicants must submit the following documents and information to receive full consideration during the committee evaluation process:

- Application: Completed application, including applicant information and signed commitment to continuing to teach at a TCU.

- Personal Statement

- CV/Resume

- Two letters of Reference: One from TCU president or chief academic officer; one additional

- Proof of admission to an accredited master's program

- Academic Plan

- Detailed Budget Template - https://bit.ly/3jpqiJr

Selection Process

The College Fund will assess the quality of applications with reference to the following criteria:

- Applicant's potential to make long-term contributions to TCU's in teaching, research, and service.

- Academic potential to succeed in graduate study and complete a master's degree.

- Potential and interest for eventually completing a terminal degree in the humanities.

-Competence displayed in the application--clarity and completeness of the written materials.

- Quality of reference and support from the applicant's TCU administration.

Contact Information

The information collected in this section will be used for contact purposes - please ensure the information you enter is up-to-date and accurate.

Degrees and Fellowships

In this section you will include any information on Degrees and Grants/Fellowships that you have received.

Detailed Budget

Upload a detailed budget with all expenses of your program - including tuition, fees, books,software, and travel to/from campus. The detailed budget should be broken down by semester with all expenses listed for each semester.

** Detailed Budget Template - https://bit.ly/3jpqiJr

FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS

In order to best serve our applicants, we are requesting that you use the following naming convention for all of your files:

FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME_FILENAME

Example - John_Doe_CurrentUnofficialTranscripts

If you have any issues with uploading documents to this form, please contact us:

Phone - 303.430.5325

Email - hnormandin@collegefund.org

Evidence of Pursuit of a Master's Degree

Please attach documentation that you are admitted to or enrolled in a master's degree program in the humanities or humanistic social sciences. This can be a letter of admission or transcripts. If you are in the process of applying for admission, explain this and provide a date by which you will likely be admitted. If your program is in another field, explain the importance of completing a degree in that field to programming at your TCU.

Personal Statement

Please attach a personal statement that describes:

- Your journey to becoming a tribal college faculty or staff member.

- Your goals for graduate education and how these relate to your career objectives.

- How graduate education will help you develop a research agenda at your TCU.

- How your achievement of a master's degree will contribute to your TCU.

- Any significant experience or information about you that would provide more understanding of the importance of a graduate education to you.

FILE NAMING CONVENTIONS

In order to best serve our applicants, we are requesting that you use the following naming convention for all of your files:

FIRSTNAME_LASTNAME_FILENAME

Example - John_Doe_CurrentUnofficialTranscripts

Commitment to Teaching at a Tribal College/University

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supports the American Indian College Fund's goal to increase and enrich intellectual capacity at tribal colleges and universities. Therefore we request your signature of commitment to teaching at a TCU for a minimum of two years following completion of the Mellon Master's Fellowship. In addition to writing your name below, if you are selected as a Mellon Master's Fellow, we will send you an official contract to sign assuming your commitment to complete the Mellon Master's Fellowship in the allotted time frame as well as reaffirming your commitment to teach for two years at a TCU.

Applicant's Permission for AICF to access National Student Clearinghouse Date

The types of information accessed in NSC pertains to the semesters/years you were enrolled, the types of degrees earned, the institutions awarding degrees and years degrees were attained.