The Graduate School and Office of Postdoctoral Affairs at Vanderbilt University in Nashville has partnered with historically Black Fisk University to create a groundbreaking new postdoctoral fellowship program.
These fellowships have been designed to offer opportunities for recent Vanderbilt Ph.D. graduates to build their teaching and scholarship portfolios, receive mentoring from faculty at both institutions and allow time for publishing their dissertations or preparing other research papers. Fellows will be considered by Fisk for faculty positions, with the goal of leading to tenure-track positions.
Two, 24-month fellowships will be available for the inaugural cohort which will launch this fall. Over the next few years, the cohorts will grow to five and then 10 members, and the plan is to eventually welcome applicants from outside Vanderbilt. The program’s aim is to serve as a national model for predominantly White institutions and historically Black colleges and universities to collaborate to prepare new generations for the professoriate.
“This collaboration with Fisk creates an innovative opportunity for Vanderbilt doctoral students to strengthen their preparation for the professoriate,” said C. Cybele Raver, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. “One aim of our initiative is to provide everyone in our university community with opportunities for deeper engagement and more mentoring, across our campus and beyond. We are proud to partner with another leading Nashville university for the benefit of both of our campus communities.”
