Wolf Humanities Center Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027–2028: Five $67,000 Humanities Fellowships at Penn on the Theme of Empire

Wolf Humanities Center Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship 2027–2028: Five $67,000 Humanities Fellowships at Penn on the Theme of Empire

Each year the Wolf Humanities Center at the University of Pennsylvania organizes its intellectual life around a single word. For 2027–2028 that word is Empire, and the center is again inviting recent PhDs to spend a year in Philadelphia thinking, writing, and teaching in its company. The Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities funds five early-career scholars whose work speaks to that annual theme, paying a minimum stipend of $67,000 for a twelve-month appointment, plus a $3,000 research fund and discounted single-coverage health insurance. Applications for the 2027–2028 cohort are due by November 1, 2026.

This is one of the more coveted humanities postdocs in the United States precisely because it is not a solitary research year. Mellon Fellows join a structured community: a weekly research seminar, a public symposium built around the theme, a faculty mentor, and one course taught inside Penn’s humanities departments. The fellowship rewards scholars who can connect their own project to a shared question and who want a year of intellectual exchange rather than isolation. This guide lays out what the fellowship provides, who is eligible, how the “Empire” theme shapes competitive applications, and how to prepare materials that survive a very selective read.

Key Details at a Glance

Treat the table as a first-pass filter. The dating rules on the PhD and the requirement to engage the annual theme are the two lines that most often decide whether an application is worth submitting, so read the sections below before you begin.

What the Fellowship Offers

The financial package is straightforward and generous by humanities standards. Each fellow receives a minimum stipend of $67,000 for the year — “minimum” because Penn periodically adjusts postdoctoral stipend floors upward, so the figure is a baseline rather than a ceiling. On top of the stipend, fellows receive a $3,000 research fund to spend on the costs that actually move a project forward: archival travel, image and permissions fees, conference attendance, books, and similar scholarly expenses. Health coverage is available at a discounted single-coverage rate.

What distinguishes the Mellon Fellowship from a bare stipend, though, is the structure around it. Fellows are expected to be in residence in Philadelphia and to participate in the life of the center. That means:

• A weekly Mellon Research Seminar, held Tuesdays from noon to 2:00 p.m., where fellows and affiliated scholars present work in progress and read one another’s drafts. This is the intellectual engine of the fellowship year.
• A public symposium on the annual theme, which fellows help plan and shape — an unusual chance for an early-career scholar to co-design a scholarly event at a major research university.
• A faculty mentor at Penn, matched to the fellow’s field, who provides guidance on the research project and on the transition to the next career stage.
• Professional development workshops aimed at the realities of the academic job market and beyond.

The teaching load is deliberately light: fellows teach one course over the year through one of Penn’s College of Arts & Sciences humanities departments. That single course is enough to add a meaningful teaching line to a CV and to give job-market candidates a Penn course on their record, without consuming the research time the fellowship is meant to protect.

The Annual Theme: Empire

The Wolf Humanities Center runs on annual themes, and for 2027–2028 the theme is Empire. This is not a decorative label. The theme organizes the research seminar, the public programming, and — critically — the selection process. Applicants are evaluated in significant part on how well their proposed project engages the year’s topic.

“Empire” is a capacious prompt, and the center reads it broadly across the humanities and allied fields. A competitive project might approach empire through the history of colonial administration, the literature and art of imperial and anticolonial movements, the afterlives of empire in language and law, imperial infrastructures and environments, religion and empire, the cultural memory of conquest, or the theoretical vocabularies scholars use to name imperial power. The point is not to have “empire” in your dissertation title; it is to show, convincingly, that your work has something original to say to a room full of scholars spending a year on the question.

The most common reason strong applicants fail here is a forced connection. Reviewers can tell the difference between a project that genuinely lives inside the theme and one that has been retrofitted with a paragraph of thematic throat-clearing. If your work speaks to empire naturally, say so directly and specifically. If the link is a stretch, this may be a year to wait for — the theme changes annually, and a project that fits next year’s word will compete far better than one bent to fit this year’s.

Who Is Eligible

The eligibility rules are specific, and the date window on the doctorate is the one that trips people up most often:

• Degree timing. You must have received — or be on track to receive — your PhD or DPhil between May 2022 and December 2026. This is a genuine early-career window: it excludes both scholars who finished too long ago and those who will not have the degree in hand by the start of the appointment.
• Field. Your terminal degree must be in the humanities or an allied field. The center explicitly counts fields such as anthropology and the history of science as allied. Scholars of performance are eligible.
• Who is not eligible. The fellowship does not accept holders of the MFA or EdD, and it is not open to social scientists (as distinct from the allied humanistic fields named above) or to performing artists. If your degree or discipline sits in one of these categories, this particular program is not the right door.
• Penn scholars. Penn PhD recipients who fall inside the eligibility window may apply.
• International applicants. The fellowship is open to scholars from outside the United States. Those coming from outside North America will need a J-1 visa, arranged through Penn.
• Residency. The fellowship requires in-person residency in Philadelphia for the appointment year. This is not a remote award.

If you are close to the edge of the degree window, read the official language carefully and, if in doubt, contact the center before investing in a full application. The other lines are firm enough that self-screening will save you and the reviewers time.

The Application and Required Materials

Applications are submitted through Interfolio at apply.interfolio.com/187400. Everything must be uploaded and submitted — including your recommendation letters — by the November 1, 2026 deadline at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. The required components are:

1. Three short forms — an Applicant Profile, an EEO form, and a position-source form. These are administrative but must be completed.
2. Research Plan — a maximum of 1,000 words (excluding bibliography). This is the heart of the application: what you will work on during the fellowship year and how it engages the theme of Empire.
3. Course Proposal — a maximum of 2 pages. A description of the single undergraduate or graduate course you would teach in a Penn humanities department.
4. Curriculum vitae.
5. Writing Sample — 20 to 25 pages (excluding bibliography). Usually a chapter or article that best represents your scholarship.
6. Three confidential letters of recommendation, submitted through Interfolio.

Decisions are expected in February 2027, and the appointment runs July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2028.

How to Build a Competitive Application

With only five fellowships and a national-to-international applicant pool, the bar is high. A few principles separate the applications that advance:

• Lead with the theme, honestly. In the first lines of your research plan, make the connection to Empire explicit and specific. Name the aspect of empire your project addresses and the conversation it would join at the seminar table. Do not bury the link on page two.
• Write the 1,000 words for a mixed audience. The research seminar and the selection committee span disciplines. Your plan should be legible to a historian, a literary scholar, and an anthropologist alike — precise about your intervention, but not so jargon-dense that a non-specialist loses the thread.
• Treat the course proposal as real evidence. A vivid, teachable two-page course description signals that you would be a genuine contributor to Penn’s departments, not just a resident researcher. Design a course a real department would want to list, connected where possible to your expertise and, ideally, to the year’s theme.
• Choose the writing sample for impact, not comprehensiveness. Twenty-five pages that showcase your best analysis and prose beat a sprawling excerpt that needs the missing context to make sense. Pick a self-contained piece that stands on its own.
• Brief your recommenders on the theme. Letters that speak to your fit with a collaborative, theme-based fellowship — and to how your work engages Empire — are far stronger than generic endorsements. Give your referees the theme and the fellowship’s collaborative structure well before the deadline.

Timeline and Deadlines

The cycle is compact and worth mapping backward from now:

• Now through October 2026 — refine your research plan and course proposal, select and polish your writing sample, and line up three recommenders. Ask for letters early; a strong letter takes time.
• November 1, 2026, 11:59 p.m. Eastern — the firm application deadline. Everything, including letters, must be in Interfolio by this moment.
• February 2027 — decisions announced.
• July 1, 2027 – June 30, 2028 — the fellowship year in residence at Penn.

Because letters are due at the same deadline as the rest of the application, the single most common avoidable failure is a recommender who misses the date. Send your referees the deadline and the Interfolio request no later than early October, and follow up.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• A forced theme fit. Retrofitting a project onto “Empire” reads as exactly that. Apply when your work genuinely engages the theme.
• Missing the degree window. The May 2022 – December 2026 PhD window is strict. Confirm you are inside it before writing.
• Applying from an ineligible field. MFA, EdD, social science, and performing-arts applicants are not eligible; scholars of performance and allied humanistic fields such as anthropology and history of science are. Read the field rules against your own degree.
• A thin course proposal. The teaching component is part of what the center is buying. A generic course description undersells you.
• Late letters. Recommendations submitted through Interfolio must arrive by November 1, 2026. Give referees a long runway.
• A writing sample that needs its context. Choose a self-contained 20–25 pages, not an excerpt that only makes sense inside the full dissertation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many fellowships are awarded? Five, each year.

How much does it pay? A minimum stipend of $67,000 for the twelve-month appointment, plus a $3,000 research fund and access to discounted single-coverage health insurance.

What is the 2027–2028 theme? Empire. Competitive projects engage this theme directly.

When is the deadline? November 1, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, with all materials and letters submitted via Interfolio. Decisions come in February 2027.

Do I need my PhD already? You must have received it, or be on track to receive it, between May 2022 and December 2026.

Is there a teaching requirement? Yes — one course through a Penn College of Arts & Sciences humanities department over the fellowship year.

Can international scholars apply? Yes. Applicants from outside North America will need a J-1 visa arranged through Penn. Residency in Philadelphia is required.

Are social scientists or MFA/EdD holders eligible? No. The fellowship is for humanists and allied fields (such as anthropology and history of science). Social scientists, MFA and EdD holders, and performing artists are not eligible, though scholars of performance are.

Official Links and Next Steps

Begin at the official program page: https://wolfhumanities.upenn.edu/fellowships/andrew-w-mellon-postdoctoral-fellowship-humanities. Read the eligibility language and the description of the “Empire” theme carefully against your own project, then confirm you fall inside the May 2022 – December 2026 degree window and outside the excluded fields.

If you are eligible and your work genuinely speaks to empire, this is a rare combination: a well-funded research year, a light teaching load that still strengthens a job-market file, and a structured intellectual community at a major research university. Draft the research plan and course proposal early, choose a writing sample that stands on its own, and get your three recommenders started well before the November 1, 2026 deadline. Stipend figures, theme, and eligibility rules can be updated by the center, so verify the current details on the official page before you submit through Interfolio.