Program Benefits


UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWS

Mentorship and Professional Enrichment
Through consistent interaction and communication with faculty mentors, undergraduate MMUF fellows benefit from the guidance and mentorship of faculty. Fellows explore graduate program options in light of their research and curricular interests and hear candid advice from faculty on the choices they have made in their academics to advance their scholarship. They also prepare for graduate school and professional life in scholarly presentations, workshops, annual conferences, and cultural and educational field trips. A sample of Spring 2009 workshop activities can be seen on our Spring 2009 calendar.


Financial Benefits
Each Berkeley Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow receives an academic year stipend of $3,600 annually that provides the Fellow with resources to pursue her or his intellectual project. Each Fellow will also receive a $3,900 stipend for the summer between the junior and senior years to support the Fellow's intellectual development. Students will also receive support in the form of travel grants and GRE assistance.


Moreover, if Fellows enter a PhD program in a Mellon-designated field within 39 months following receipt of the undergraduate degree, they are also eligible for up to $10,000 in loan repayment. The program repays guaranteed student loans in installments. The first $5,000 is disbursed in yearly increments of up to $1,250 for the first four years of graduate school. The second $5,000 is paid upon receipt of the doctoral degree.



MELLON PhDS

As Mellon PhDs, students become a part of the SSRC-Mellon Mays Graduate Initiatives that enrich their graduate training as MMUF Fellows at the undergraduate level. Benefits include:


Annual Summer Conference
The Summer Conference serves as the bridge that provides a forum for skills exchange, cohort-building and the development of professional proficiencies such as delivering effective presentations and maximizing research support. Opportunities for younger and older fellows' interaction enhance the intergenerational nature of the Mellon community. This allows for informal networking and community-building.


Proposal Writing and Dissertation Development Seminar
Intensive writing seminars are for fine-tuning the dissertation proposal and the dissertation, which helps candidates to complete the dissertation in a reasonable time frame.


Seminar on Preparing for the Professoriate
Mellon PhDs learn the set of skills they will need to transition from being good young researchers to successful negotiators of their first faculty appointments. This includes preparing the cover letter and CV, presenting a job talk, and converting the dissertation into a book or publication.


PhD Retreat
Exclusively for Fellows who have completed the doctorate, the program is held every other year to address issues of specific concern to young faculty members—teaching, research, publication, and tenure.


Grant Awards
Mellon PhDs become eligible to apply for the Pre-doctoral Research Development and the Graduate Studies Enhancement grants. The Pre-Doctoral Research Development Grant is $3,000. It is intended to assist second, third, and fourth-year Fellows, and it can be used for small scale, preliminary research and other activities that support the early investigation of data sources, field sites, data sets and archival materials. The Graduate Studies Enhancement Grant is $1,500 It is intended to assist Fellow in their second through fifth years, and it can be used to defer the cost of conference travel, equipment, books, journal subscriptions, software and other necessary supplies. A Fellow may receive up to four Enhancement grants. The total of the Pre-doctoral Research Development and Graduate Studies Enhancement grants may not exceed $5,000 during the years of eligibility.