Each year, the Council welcomes distinguished scholars, artists, writers, and practitioners as Long-Term and Short-Term Visiting Fellows, who enrich the University community through their work in and beyond the classroom.
Long-Term Visiting Fellows, who are “in residence” at the University, teach or co-teach a course for a full semester. These fellows may be nominated by chairs of humanities departments with support of directors of interdisciplinary humanities programs.
Short-Term Visiting Fellows visit the University campus for three to five days, where they lecture and participate in class discussions, colloquia, performances, workshops, or other informal events within their nominating departments. These fellows may be nominated by chairs of humanities departments or faculty directors of interdisciplinary humanities programs
Fellows selected this year will take up their residencies in the 2027-28 academic year, the inaugural year of the new Princeton Humanities Institute. The Humanities Council is working in close consultation with the Princeton Humanities Initiative on the selection and administration of these awards.
The Visiting Fellows Program was created with a gift from Frank E. Taplin, Jr. ’37 in honor of Whitney J. Oates, the distinguished classicist and founder of the Humanities Council. In addition to Whitney J. Oates Fellows, the program also hosts Belknap Fellows in Arts and Letters, Stewart Fellows in Religion, and Edward T. Cone ’39 *42 Fellows, named in memory of the eminent composer, musicologist, professor and benefactor of the arts and humanities.
Long-Term Visiting Fellows
Overview
Each year distinguished writers, artists and scholars spend a semester visiting Princeton, teaching one course and participating in conversations, convenings, and other events designed to advance the humanities at Princeton. Nominations are invited from chairs of humanities departments and may be made jointly with humanities-based interdisciplinary programs.
Eligibility
Nominations for visiting Long-Term Fellows are invited from chairs of humanities departments and may be made jointly with interdisciplinary programs.
Long-Term Fellows “in residence” take an unpaid leave from their home institutions and relocate to Princeton for a semester to teach (or co-teach with a Princeton faculty member) one course. Academics who live within commuting distance (e.g., NJ, NYC, Philadelphia) are eligible for “commuting” fellowships, which carry modified residency requirements and a pro-rated stipend.
All appointments and offers require approval of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty.
How to apply
Department nominations must include:
- a letter from the chair including a brief description of the candidate’s scholarly and/or creative contributions and qualifications as a teacher; a proposed itinerary (including the intended semester of the visit); a brief description of the course to be taught or co-taught by the visitor and the rationale for its selection; and a description of how the visiting fellow will contribute to other humanities departments and programs at Princeton – for example, through active participation in works-in-progress seminars, workshops, scholarly collaboration, etc.
- two or more letters of support from colleagues in other departments or programs, speaking to the value of the visitor to the letter writer’s home unit and cross-disciplinary conversations and activities
- a CV for the proposed visitor
All nominations must be submitted through the Council’s online submission form by October 12, 2026. Please note, a University log-in is required to access the nomination form.
Nominate a Long-Term FellowShort-Term Visiting Fellows
Overview
The Humanities Council invites nominations for Short-Term Visiting Fellows in the humanities who can contribute to ongoing scholarly conversations at Princeton. During intensive three- to five-day visits, these fellows lecture and participate in classes, colloquia and informal discussions.
This year, the Council offers two opportunities to propose short-term visiting scholars.
- First, a call for visitors responding to specially designated themes for 2027-28: Humanities departments and programs may propose a visiting fellow – from any field of the humanities or humanistic social sciences – who can contribute to ongoing conversations and programming related to one of the following two themes:
- Contending with Cultural Heritage: explorations of questions about the preservation, reception, valuation, understanding, and stewardship of cultural artifacts, practices, and traditions.
- Media & Meaning: humanistic approaches to understanding how media of various kinds – from mass media to the visual arts to generative AI – create and shape meaning for individuals and in society.
- Second, an open-theme call for proposals: Humanities departments and programs may propose a visitor working in any field of the humanities or humanistic social sciences who can contribute to active scholarly conversations at Princeton.
Eligibility
Nominations for Short-Term Visiting Fellows may be submitted by chairs of humanities departments or faculty directors of humanities-based interdisciplinary programs.
How to apply
Nominations must include:
- a letter from the chair or director of the nominating department or program. This letter should include a proposed itinerary (including the provisional timing of the visit), an overview of the nominee’s scholarly and/or creative contributions, a concise description of how the nominee’s work engages with either one of this year’s designated themes or, if the proposal responds to the open call, how the nominee’s contributions as a visiting fellow would enrich the department’s or program’s ongoing research and/or teaching in another area of humanistic inquiry
- one or more letters of support from colleagues in other departments or programs
- a CV for the proposed visitor
All nominations must be submitted through the Council’s online submission form by November 11, 2026. Please note, a University log-in is required to access the nomination form.
Nominate a Short-Term Fellow
