In response to the severe economic downturn caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ACLS created the Emerging Voices Fellowship program in 2020 to support early career scholars whose voices, perspectives, and broad visions will strengthen institutions of higher education and humanistic disciplines in the years to come.

The 2021-22 competition marks the final year of the Emerging Voices Fellowship. The program will maintain its focus on the vanguard of scholars whose voices, perspectives, and broad visions will strengthen institutions of higher education and humanistic disciplines in the years to come. It seeks to sustain emerging scholars who are “both-and”: who are both outstanding scholars and effective communicators to diverse audiences inside and/or outside the classroom. We are proud of our record in the program so far of supporting scholars of color, scholars from low-income and unconventional backgrounds, scholars who have taken on extraordinary roles in graduate school (organizing public art exhibits, teaching in prison education programs, managing research support groups, to name just a few).

Fellows take up placements with members of the ACLS Research University Consortium, where they can advance their research and professional development while contributing to the teaching, programming, and administrative work of their host university.

The Emerging Voices Fellowship is funded through the ACLS endowment, which has benefited from the generous support of esteemed institutions and individuals including The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Arcadia Charitable Trust, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the ACLS Research University Consortium and college and university Associates, past fellows, and friends of ACLS.