The Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender announces the winner of the 2026 Elaine Combs-Schilling Memorial Fellowship: Channelle Chevelle Russell.
Channelle Chevelle Russell is a writer and doctoral candidate in Columbia’s Department of English and Comparative Literature. Her research insists on black feminist intervention at the level of form and narrative expression through a method Toni Morrison once called ‘literary archaeology.’ Born in Jamaica and raised in coastal South Carolina, Channelle is a first-generation college graduate and Mellon Mays Fellow who earned her Bachelor of Arts in English and History from Emory University, summa cum laude, before completing her Master's in Creative Writing from Scotland’s University of St Andrews. Having previously served the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture as a curatorial assistant, she now assists Columbia’s Rare Books & Manuscript Library on an upcoming exhibition exploring Toni Morrison’s editorial career.
Currently at work on her first novel which explores black queer unruliness and modern-day spectacle through reality dating competitions, Channelle also writes the culture newsletter Girl Uninterrupted and spends her free time leading discussion groups at Brooklyn’s Center for Fiction, walking through Central Park, and dutifully making her way through every cooking competition show ever.
The Elaine Combs-Schilling Memorial Fellowship, established to honor the memory of Elaine Combs-Schilling (1949-2016), Professor of Anthropology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, is awarded annually to an ISSG graduate student. The fellowship provides an opportunity to pursue summer archival research and travel in support of their doctoral work with a stipend of $2,000. Funding for the fellowship comes from the Elaine Combs-Schilling Memorial Fund
