Dissertation Write-Up: March 2012 Archives

The Martin Marty Center (MMC) of the Divinity School will appoint a set of twelve Junior Fellows for the 2012-2013 academic year.  Ph.D. candidates from the Divinity School, and Ph.D. candidates from the Division of the Humanities or the Division of the Social Sciences whose dissertation examines a topic or topics in religion, are eligible for appointment.  An application consisting of a cover letter, a CV, a copy of the dissertation prospectus, and a letter of support from the thesis advisor about the thesis is due to Terri Owens, Dean of Students in the Divinity School, no later than Monday, April 16th.  The prospectus must include a statement of progress to date on the dissertation.  Awards will be announced in early May.

Funded initially through a generous grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, the Junior Fellows program aims to assist its members in the successful completion of their dissertation, and in the initial transition to professional life as public intellectuals.  Directed by Divinity School faculty, the program is organized around a year-long seminar which has as its main business the sharing and discussion of the dissertations.   Since the first public of the scholar is arguably the classroom, Junior Fellows teach a course on an aspect of their dissertation at a local college or university, and these experiences are also part of the shared discourse of the seminar.  In the spring of each year, the culminating event of the seminar is a day-long conference in which the Fellows share a précis of their dissertation research with a cohort of professional people who are not scholars of religion, to test their mettle in communicating complex ideas to an educated and interested audience. 

The seminar thus challenges students, as they complete their dissertations, to step back from the immediacies of specialized research to ask themselves, and one another, how that research will contribute to the institutions and the society in which they will pursue their scholarly vocations. 

Because of this agenda, successful applicants will have already made significant process in the research and writing of the dissertation and will be poised, programmatically and by disposition, to participate vigorously in all aspects of this work.  Alumni of the seminar describe the experience as having had a seminal influence on their careers.

Students from the Humanities or the Social Sciences receive a $4,000 stipend. 

Junior Fellows will be required to attend all seminar sessions as scheduled.

All questions should be directed to Terri Owens, Dean of Students in the Divinity School, at tdowens@uchicago.edu, 773-702-8217.