An Opportunity of a Lifetime, at the Mecca!
It's not one of Virginia's five, prestigious, HBCUs, but it is The Mecca, and we will always share the abundance of good news from Howard University!
Did you know that Howard's Institute for Advanced Study offers a residential fellowship program that provides a $75,000 stipend, funding to support project expenses, and access to Howard University's benefits package? All of these wrap-around supports position the residential fellows the peace of mind to focus on all the program has to offer.
About the Fellowship Program:
"The Institute’s Fellowship Program is home to an annual cohort of intellectuals, artists, creators, and practitioners who are innovatively and impactfully examining and deconstructing racism. Fellows from a wide variety of fields and disciplines, from inside and outside of academia, gather in residence at Howard University for the fall and spring semesters.
The principal driver of human progress—solving seemingly intractable problems like racism—is invention. New ideas. New methods. New technologies of change. But human progress, including racial progress, is stalling due, in part, to a decline in funding and support for the boldest, riskiest, and most novel ideas. There is growing pressure to produce what sounds familiar, what seems guaranteed to succeed, even though the most unfamiliar and riskiest ideas have advanced human progress.
It was a wholly novel idea for formerly enslaved people to tell their own life narratives, but they did it and helped abolish chattel slavery. It was considered extremely risky to descriptively track lynchings until journalist Ida B. Wells did so and inspired a movement. It was considered outlandish to frame race as a construct rather than a biological reality, but scientists did it and established a basis for antiracism.
The Institute trusts the ability of people with expertise and experience to imagine and invent and innovate a new world of equity and justice for all. What these experts need is the encouragement, freedom, and space to take the biggest intellectual and creative risks of their careers. Not alone though. It is best for people to develop their most ambitious ideas in fellowship with people from other fields developing their most ambitious ideas. A community of fellows at the Institute for Advanced Study imagining and sharpening and testing new ideas and projects together.
Each Howard Fellow pursues an incisive project based on their experience and expertise, including, but not limited to an innovative database, a monograph, an academic study, a novel, a screenplay, a poetry collection, a blueprint, a memoir, an anthology, an archive, or a series of investigative reports. Each Howard Fellow contributes to the Institute’s efforts to power antiracist innovation and human progress. Each Howard Fellow enhances the intellectual fabric of the Institute of Advanced Study and Howard University.
Eligibility:
Applicants can come from a wide variety of sectors and fields, including, but not limited to, academia, journalism, public service, creative arts, public humanities, community organizing, data science, law, public health, philanthropy, and literature. Applicants must demonstrate the capacity to carry out an inventive year-long project related to race, racism, or antiracism. This capacity must be evidenced through a record of work relevant to the applicant’s field and proposed project. We accept applicants exploring racism affecting any racial group, as well as racism’s intersections with other forms of bigotry.
Black and white sign stating "RACISM IS A PANDEMIC"
Applicants are not required to hold an institutional affiliation. We accept applicants at the beginning, mid-point, and end of their careers.
Faculty at Howard University and other historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are encouraged to apply. Those proposing projects related to Reproductive Justice are especially encouraged to apply for the 2027-2028 fellowship cohort.
We do not accept applicants currently enrolled in an undergraduate, master’s, professional, or doctoral degree program. Applicants must be three years removed from completing their doctoral or terminal degree when the fellowship begins in September 2027. Exceptions could be made for an applicant with significant experience and impact in their field prior to obtaining their doctoral or terminal degree. If you have significant experience and impact in your field, we encourage you to apply. Please do not contact the Institute to inquire if you are eligible. Our team does not have the capacity to assess applicant qualifications prior to the formal review process." - Howard University Institute for Advanced Study
The deadline to apply to become a Howard Fellow is October 22, 2026, at 5pm ET. Please visit their website to learn more and be sure to share this opportunity with your networks.
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