Hamilton has received a four-year grant totaling $800,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to create five postdoctoral fellowship positions in the arts and humanities.
Hamilton's Mellon postdoctoral fellows will be appointed for two-year terms to teach both introductory and upper-level courses and will be assigned mentors drawn from the ranks of senior faculty members at the college. The Mellon Postdoctoral Program will ensure exceptional teaching and scholarly experiences in a liberal arts setting for new Ph.D.s who may be weighing the relative advantages between embarking on a career at a small college versus at a research university.
"A career at a residential liberal arts college may not be what first comes to mind when arts and humanities professors enter the job market, said Dean of Faculty Joseph Urgo. "Some may not be aware of the high level of career satisfaction reported by faculty with appointments in small colleges. These post-doctoral fellows will gain the experience of teaching and conducting research in a residential liberal arts college setting and then use that experience to inform their career moves in the future."
The Mellon postdoctoral fellows will have the opportunity to work closely and intensely with exceptional students, both in small classes and through one-on-one scholarly and informal interactions. At the same time, the postdoctoral fellows will enable the college to expand course offerings in the humanities and arts in areas not covered by Hamilton's permanent faculty. "We are grateful to the Mellon Foundation for making it possible for us to create this fine opportunity for Hamilton," said Urgo.
This postdoctoral program is based on Hamilton's long-running, successful experience with a similar initiative that fills important gaps in the college's Asian studies curriculum. The college provides many opportunities for students and faculty members to work as partners on significant – often publishable – research or other creative endeavors.
Postdoctoral fellows who have left Hamilton to pursue their careers report, that above all else, they continue to value and nurture close interactions with students – a skill they learned during their time at Hamilton. Faculty-student collaborative research experiences have enabled previous postdoctoral fellows (and their students) to clarify their own academic interests, while increasing their confidence and proficiency in teaching.
Many students attending college now expect to find undergraduate research or faculty-collaborative opportunities in the sciences, but few colleges offer such opportunities in the arts and humanities. Hamilton was a leader in extending the summer science research paradigm to other disciplines, especially the humanities and arts.
The college will focus its efforts on recruiting Mellon postdoctoral fellows from top institutions across the nation with expertise in the areas of Latina and Africana art history, Arabic and Latin American history, film studies, dance history, Siberian and Central Asian studies, Native American and Latina women's studies, U.S./Latino studies and contemporary U.S. literature by writers of color.
