Artists as Catalysts

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Beyond Incarceration

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Civic Engagement

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Evolving Higher Education

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Expanding Public Knowledge

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Monuments and Memory

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Multivocality

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Power of the Word

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Public Places‚ Public Stories

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Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

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University Everywhere

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Established in 1988, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) program is Mellon’s flagship effort to help remedy the problem of underrepresentation in the faculty ranks of higher education. Its name honors Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, the noted African American educator, statesman, minister, and former president of Morehouse College.

Founded with an initial cohort of eight member institutions, the program has grown to include 47 member schools and three consortia, including and the UNCF consortium of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. 

Thus far the program has produced 1,100 PhDs, almost 800 of whom are currently college professors and 300 of whom have taken their humanities training into venues ranging from museums and nonprofit organizations to publishing houses and government positions. As of March 2023, 829 MMUF fellows were enrolled in PhD programs, while the fellowship continues to support approximately 500 undergraduate students at 50 institutions each year.

Through a pipeline process that emphasizes mentoring, research support, programming, and the impact of student cohorts, Mellon partners with member colleges and universities to identify and support students of great promise and help them become scholars of the highest distinction.

Through MMUF, Mellon aims to build colleges and university faculties that represent the diversity of our country. MMUF is creating a legacy of field-transforming  scholars who will provide opportunities for all students to experience and learn from the perspectives of diverse faculty members.


About MMUF

Though most MMUF PhDs go on to teach at the university level, our fellows are also employed in higher ed administration, nonprofits, museums and libraries, publishing, government, medicine, and law.

PhDs earned

A critical mass of MMUF PhDs is now transforming teaching and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

College and university faculty and instructors

Over 500 MMUF PhDs now hold positions as tenure-track, tenured, or full professors.

Tenured and tenure-track professors

MMUF at a glance

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Frequently asked questions

Each year, new MMUF undergraduate fellows are selected from applicants in the rising junior classes of MMUF member institutions. These fellows join the rising and graduating senior fellows in their institution’s MMUF program, where they are provided with mentoring and financial support as they prepare for entry into PhD programs and eventual careers as scholars and faculty members. 

The MMUF program also supports fellows enrolled in PhD programs in eligible fields through a suite of programmatic events and grant opportunities. This support continues beyond graduate school into fellows’ postdoctoral and faculty careers.

How the MMUF program works

MMUF Fellows attend a conference at Columbia University in New York City. Photo: courtesy of Social Science Research Council

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Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program participant Ben Vinson III, PhD, has been selected as the 18th president of Howard University.

MMUF PhD Ben Vinson Announced as Howard University's Next President

Dr. Sean Decatur, the first MMUF fellow to become a college president, has been named president of the American Museum of Natural History. Dr. Decatur became president of Kenyon College in 2013. 

MMUF PhD Sean Decatur Named President of American Museum of Natural History

MMUF PhD Imani Perry Wins National Book Award

When Howard University named Ben Vinson III ’92 president earlier this month, it marked a milestone for the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship.

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Mellon Mays Fellowships at Dartmouth Have National Impact

Armando I. Bengochea (left), senior program officer and director of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, and Phillip Brian Harper (right), program director. 

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Mellon program leaders offer their thoughts on new work that is uniquely positioned to meet some of the most pressing issues of the moment.

A Q&A with Higher Learning Leadership

New in 2022, “Humanities for All Times” meets growing undergraduate interest in social justice by supporting projects that teach humanities skills and methods necessary to transformational change.

New Initiative Supports Liberal Arts Colleges Providing Social Justice-Oriented Offerings

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How Did Mellon’s Pivot to Social Justice Affect its Higher Ed Grantmaking?

Forging a just academy and shaping the future of the humanities

Diversifying the professoriate is labor-intensive and requires the real and active intellectual and social commitment of busy scholars and administrators.

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