The American Council of Learned Societies Names 48 New Emerging Voices Fellows

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) has proudly named 48 new Emerging Voices Fellows for 2021. With the continued uncertainty enveloping academe in the wake of the COVID-19 economic downturn, the program identifies and assists a vanguard of scholars whose voices, perspectives, and broad visions will strengthen institutions of higher education and humanistic disciplines in the years to come.

Launched in 2020, the Emerging Voices Fellowship program allows recent PhDs in the humanities and interpretive social sciences to take up one-year remote positions at select institutions in the ACLS Research University Consortium for the 2021-22 academic year. Emerging Voices Fellows will advance their research agendas while undertaking a variety of roles including teaching, research, program development, and public engagement, based on the needs of each institution.

Learn more about the 2021 Emerging Voices Fellows here.

“As the pandemic continues and new and recent PhDs face an extremely challenging academic job market, ACLS recognizes the urgent need to support this group, who represent the future of the academy,” said ACLS President Joy Connolly. “We are grateful to the member institutions of our Research University Consortium for providing mentorship and community to these scholars — and in doing so, advancing important humanistic study on their campuses and beyond.”

Selected from nearly 300 scholars nominated by nearly 100 universities, the 2021 Emerging Voices Fellows distinguished themselves through outstanding scholarly achievement, strong track records of curricular innovation and engagement with diverse audiences, demonstrated commitment to equity and inclusion, and the potential to move their fields in exciting new directions that are meaningful to scholars in other disciplines and the wider public.

Fellows were selected through a multi-stage peer review process that brought expertise from a diverse panel of scholars representing a variety of humanities and interpretive social science disciplines. The outstanding group of scholars in this second cohort are institutionally and demographically diverse, exemplifying a program that aims to sustain voices that the academy urgently needs in the coming years. We are proud to report that over 80% are scholars of color, nearly 50% are Black or Latinx, and 60% are first generation scholars, up from 40% last year.

Each fellow receives a stipend of $60,000, health insurance, a $5,000 discretionary fund to be used for research, childcare, or elder care costs, as well as access to ACLS professional development resources.

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.

Learn more about ACLS fellowship and grant programs for the 2021-22 competition round. The next competition for ACLS Emerging Voices Fellowships will be launched in spring 2022.