A long-standing initiative of the Mellon Foundation, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) is a program that creates pathways to the U.S. academy and prepares students to become scholars and leaders in humanistic fields. Through programming that emphasizes mentoring and research development and buoyed by working together in cohorts of shared values that are animated by the scholarly conversation, the MMUF seeks to identify and support students who aspire to becoming scholars of the highest quality and who go on to become leaders in institutions of higher learning, as public servants, in publishing, and at public-facing institutions.
Research
The MMUF program is, at its heart, a research program. We prepare future scholars who will be inspired and informed by research throughout their careers. Research experience and production are essential at every stage of a well-trained scholar’s career, from the graduate school application process to entry into one’s professional life and beyond. As future scholars and leaders, Fellows require a thorough understanding of the principles and methods of academic research, as well as the confidence to conduct it. Thus, we provide undergraduate fellows with intensive, ongoing research development and experience, beginning earlier in their careers than is typical for most college undergraduates. This begins with the MMUF Summer Research Training program (SRTP) hosted at the University of Chicago, which is required for all University of Chicago students admitted to the MMUF.
During their third and fourth years, each MMUF fellow is expected to conduct an individual research project under the guidance of a faculty mentor, culminating in a final thesis paper or presentation during the senior year. The SRTP is designed to ground students’ research going forward and culminates in a research proposal that fellows often modify and expand for their thesis work as seniors in the College.
Learn about the Summer Research Training Program, required of UChicago MMUF students.
MentoringThe MMUF program is built on the proven notion that mentoring is critical to supporting the growth of future scholars. Each undergraduate Mellon Mays fellow is expected to meet regularly with at least one faculty mentor. Fellows work with their mentors to deepen their understanding and enrich their interests into research projects. Faculty mentors often serve as one of the student’s thesis advisors during the third year—when students begin preparing for the BA thesis in the spring quarter—and into the fourth year.
As mentors, faculty members are expected to demystify the formal and informal aspects of conducting research, applying to graduate school, thriving once in a graduate program, earning the doctorate, and pursuing their careers. We encourage undergraduate fellows to cultivate mentoring relationships with three faculty members while studying at the University of Chicago, as well as MMUF alumni, and to do the same as they advance through graduate school and into their careers. Further, we hope and expect that Mellon Mays fellows will later in their careers become mentors to younger fellows.
UChicago fellows are supported through faculty mentorship.
Cohort Effect & Community
We typically select cohorts of five students per academic year, such that at any given moment there will be between ten and fifteen fellows on campus. The intention of this selection process is to build a sense of cohort and community among fellows who enter the program at the same time. Fellows’ scholarly growth is enhanced by the feedback and support of like-minded peers. We hope – and the program’s history has demonstrated – that the bonds fellows form among their undergraduate cohorts often serve as the basis for larger MMUF support networks that far outlast their time in the College. Other opportunities for Mellon Mays fellows to experience this community include their time in the Summer Research Training Program at the University of Chicago, attending and presenting their work at the annual Mellon Mays Midwest conference, and continuing to participate in conferences and workshops while in graduate school and entering their professions that are sponsored by the Mellon Foundation in conjunction with the American Council of Learned Societies and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars .