The Institute for the Study of Sexuality and Gender (ISSG) seeks applications for the 2025 Elaine Combs-Schilling Memorial Fellowship. The Elaine Combs-Schilling Memorial Fellowship was established in 2017 in memory of Elaine Combs-Schilling (1949-2016), feminist Professor of Anthropology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. The graduate fellowship offers up to $2000 to support travel connected to summer dissertation research.
Selection will be based on academic distinction in WGSS scholarship. Priority will be given to Ph.D. students in the humanities, social sciences, or sciences who are at the dissertation research and writing stage, whose work involves feminist or queer methodologies, and who have completed or are in the process of completing the ISSG graduate certificate. Proposals should be for summer travel for fieldwork or archival research, or for participation in conferences directly related to the dissertation project.
To apply, please submit the following:
- Letter of intent (maximum 3 pages single-spaced, excluding end/footnotes), outlining your proposed research as it relates to your doctoral work
- Current CV
- Brief writing sample (not to exceed 20 pages, excluding bibliography)
- Detailed budget for the research/travel you propose
- One reference written by a faculty member familiar with your work (references may be emailed directly by the referee to [email protected])
Applications should be emailed to: [email protected], subject line "ECS Graduate Fellowship".
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 11:59pm, Sunday, March 30, 2025
Margaret Elaine Combs-Schilling (1949-2016), Columbia Professor of Anthropology and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, served first as Vice (Acting) Chair and then Chair of the Department of Anthropology from 1991 to 1995. Professor Combs-Schilling exerted particular care, and took special pride, in working with her graduate and undergraduate students. Indeed, though Elaine was an ambitious and accomplished scholar, she felt a deep spiritual connection to the vocation of teacher and transformed generations of Columbia students, helping them harness their intellectual potential and broaden their cultural perspective. Above all, she made them feel that their voices were worthy of being heard.
