The fellowship provides senior honors students in the humanities or humanistic social sciences with a unique opportunity for collegial interaction with an exciting group of faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate fellows.
Fellows of all ranks gather every Tuesday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm to present and discuss works-in-progress, followed by lunch. The fellowship carries a $1,000 research fund and 1 credit for the academic year. Four undergraduate fellowships are awarded annually.
Eligibility
Rising senior honors students are invited to apply. If you plan to graduate in December, you should apply to join the seminar in your 6th and 7th semesters. Students who cannot hold the fellowship for the entire academic year are not eligible.
Application
Applications are closed at the moment. Information about the 2024–2025 application cycle is forthcoming.
You must be logged into your Brown University email account to access the form. Applicants should submit:
A statement, in no more than 1,000 words, outlining your area(s) of study and your specific research interests. Your statement should also explain how your academic work would benefit from and contribute to a collective seminar experience among scholars in the humanities. Participation in the Fellows Seminar is central to the fellowship experience.
A short writing sample (8-20 pages double-spaced).
Letters of Recommendation and DUS Support
In addition, applicants should request:
A letter of support from your department’s director of undergraduate studies.
Two letters of recommendation from faculty, at least one of which must discuss your plans to write a thesis. It is recommended that one letter come from your honors advisor or thesis director.
What is the Cogut Institute? The Cogut Institute enhances and amplifies the humanities at Brown University, hosting conferences, lectures and colloquia, encouraging interdisciplinary work done on campus, offering unique courses for graduate and undergraduate credit, and bringing outside academics and researchers here to enrich our thinking and scholarship. We are home to about 28 fellows a year who, from undergraduates to senior faculty from all over the humanities and humanistic social sciences, share their research projects at the weekly Fellows Seminar.
How would I fit in as an Undergraduate Fellow? Cogut Institute Undergraduate Fellows participate in the life of the institute. At the Fellows Seminar, you will be reading and critically assessing as-yet-unpublished work by everyone from senior faculty to undergraduates like you, in a collegial and cross-disciplinary environment. You will have preferred registration status at the limited seating workshops we offer. You can get involved in helping the planning and execution of events if you have a particular interest in the topic or speaker. You will make connections and have networking opportunities that can deepen your experience at Brown University and beyond. And we feed you lunch in the bargain!
How competitive is the selection? It varies from year to year, of course, but we always have more applications than slots, so you should attend to your application with care. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact humanities-institute@brown.edu.
Jane Freiman ’22 (American Studies, Comparative Literature), Connor Jenkins ’22 (History, Africana Studies), Kaitlan Bui ’22 (English, East Asian Studies), and Yara Doumani ’22 (History, Environmental Studies) share about their experiences with the seminar.