Early Career PhDs to Join Nonprofit Organizations to Advance Social Justice Initiatives
NEW YORK, June 15, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is pleased to name 18 new Leading Edge Fellows. This publicly engaged humanities initiative demonstrates the potential of humanistic knowledge and methods to solve problems, build capacity, and advance social justice and equity. The program is made possible by a grant from the Mellon Foundation.
The ACLS Leading Edge Fellowship Program supports outstanding early career PhDs in the humanities and interpretive social sciences as they work with social justice organizations in communities across the United States. This fourth cohort of fellows will take up two-year positions with a diverse range of organizations including Restore Justice, the Center for Court Innovation, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Atlanta. Drawing on skills honed in the course of earning their PhDs, including data collection, program evaluation, and communicating complex research in compelling and accessible ways, they will contribute to initiatives advancing community alternatives to policing, employee ownership and economic equality, and expanded access to fair wages, voting rights, and public education.
"The Leading Edge Fellowship Program demonstrates the crucial, practical role of humanistic scholars and knowledge in the world beyond the academy," said ACLS President Joy Connolly. "With the generous support of the Mellon Foundation, we are proud to support this impressive group of humanists as they contribute their training and talents toward creating a more equitable and just future."
Meet the new Leading Edge Fellows.
The 2022 fellows represent a wide array of humanistic disciplines and PhD granting institutions, including University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Chicago, the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Howard University, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, and Yale University.
Leading Edge Fellows receive a $62,500 stipend in the first year, $65,000 in the second, plus health insurance. The award also comes with an annual budget of up to $3,500 for professional development activities, as well as networking, mentorship, and career development resources provided by ACLS.
Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 79 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member organizations, ACLS utilizes its $170 million endowment and $36 million annual operating budget to expand the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship. In all aspects of our work, ACLS is committed to principles and practices in support of racial and social justice.
The Mellon Foundation is the nation's largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Mellon believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom to be found there. Through its grants, Mellon seeks to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. The Foundation makes grants in four core program areas: Arts and Culture; Higher Learning; Humanities in Place; and Public Knowledge.
Media Contact
Anna Polovick Waggy, American Council of Learned Societies, 646-258-2470, [email protected]
SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies
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