THE WILLIAM SANDERS SCARBOROUGH FELLOWSHIPS
DEADLINE EXTENDED: December 1, 2020
Due to the difficulties of the current academic semester and the uncertainties surrounding the coming academic year, the deadline for the William Sanders Scarborough Fellowships has been extended to December 1, 2020. We want to assure applicants that the School will continue to adapt to the changing global health situation in accommodating all fellows.
This fellowship is intended to honor Professor William Sanders Scarborough’s memory and to help foster diversity in the fields of Classical and Hellenic Studies and the Humanities more broadly by supporting students and teachers from underrepresented groups in their study and research at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
William Sanders Scarborough (1852–1926), the son of an enslaved woman and a freedman, was a pathbreaking African American Classical scholar and public intellectual. Scarborough’s scholarship included philological works on Greek and Roman authors, as well as studies of African languages and African American folklore. His First Lessons in Greek (1881) was the first foreign language textbook by an African American author. He taught at Ohio’s Wilberforce University and Payne Theological Seminary, serving as Wilberforce’s president from 1908–1920. At least twice in his life (1886 and 1896), Scarborough hoped to attend the American School, with the encouragement of the School’s Managing Committee. Lack of funding, coupled with his many professional responsibilities, kept Scarborough from realizing his dream of going to Greece.
Eligibility: Graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars residing in the United States or Canada, regardless of citizenship, whose geographic origin, diverse experiences, and socio-economic background are underrepresented at the School (including persons from the Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color communities), and whose studies, research, or teaching would benefit from residency at the School. Fellowship recipients need not be specialists in the field of Classical Studies. The School welcomes applicants from public and private universities, colleges, and community colleges, and particularly encourages those from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Terms and Duration: The fellowship supports up to three months in residence at the School to carry out proposed research projects and/or join the School’s academic programs (field trips and seminars during the regular academic year or the summer, excavations at the Agora or Corinth, scientific field schools, etc.). Applicants interested in using the fellowship to participate in summer programs should submit separate applications to programs of interest. The summer programs for 2021 are already largely filled with deferred applicants from 2020. Applicants to the Scarborough fellowship program wishing to be considered for summer programs in 2021 should contact the ASCSA Programs Administrator at application@ascsa.org for further guidance. Awards granted in the 2020 competition should normally be used between June 1, 2021 and May 30, 2022.
Each of the awards provides for $1500 per month (rounded upwards to the nearest whole month to a maximum of 3 month) as a stipend. The fellowship covers the costs of room and board in Athens, a waiver of any applicable School fees, and one roundtrip economy-class airfare to Athens. The School intends to make up to four such awards each year.
Application: Submit an online application here, https://ascsa.submittable.com/submit/171376/william-sanders-scarborough-fellowship. A complete application will include:
- A 2-page, single-spaced, statement indicating your eligibility, describing the proposed use of the fellowship including any formal program at the School you plan to apply for, the proposed timeframe for your work at the School, and your research project (as applicable).
- A curriculum vitae.
- A copy of current transcripts (for student applicants).
- Arrange for two letters of recommendation. Once an online application is submitted, recommenders will be sent an automated email with instructions about how to submit their letters of recommendation. Recommenders will be asked to upload their letters via the online application system, Submittable. It is also acceptable for recommenders to submit letters directly to this email address: application@ascsa.org.
Web site: https://www.ascsa.edu.gr/fellowships-and-grants/graduate-and-postdoctoral
E-mail: application@ascsa.org
Award decisions will be announced in March 2021.
The American School of Classical Studies at Athens does not discriminate on the basis of race, age, sex, sexual orientation, color, religion, ethnic origin, or disability when considering admission to any form of membership or application for employment.
