2023 Career Enhancement Fellows

The Institute for Citizens & Scholars has named 20 new Career Enhancement Fellows for the 2023-24 academic year.

The Career Enhancement Fellowship, funded by the Mellon Foundation and administered by Citizens & Scholars, seeks to increase the presence of underrepresented junior and other faculty members in the humanities, social sciences, and arts by creating career development opportunities for selected Fellows with promising research projects.

The 2023 Career Enhancement Fellows work in such disciplines as African American studies, history, English, political science, and more.  They come from a variety of institutions across the country. Selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants, Fellows are expanding perspectives within their disciplines and are committed to research and service that increases diversity and inclusion on campus. (Full list of Fellows, institutions, and departments below.)

The program provides Fellows with a six-month or one-year sabbatical stipend (up to $35,000); a research, travel, or publication stipend (up to $1,500); mentoring; and participation in a professional development retreat.

Administered at Citizens & Scholars since 2001, the Career Enhancement Fellowship has supported more than 400 junior faculty members, creating a robust network of scholars committed to eradicating racial disparities in core fields in the arts and humanities. Fellows have gone on to serve in administrative and leadership roles, receive high honors like MacArthur Fellowships, and teach new generations of students.

For more information about the Career Enhancement Fellowship, eligibility requirements, and the next application cycle, visit https://citizensandscholars.org/fellowships/career-enhancement/

12-Month Fellows

Tahereh Aghdasifar | California State University, Dominguez Hills, women’s studies
Brandon Erby | University of Kentucky, writing, rhetoric, and digital studies
Marcos Gonsalez | Adelphi University, English
Natalie Novoa | California State University, Fullerton, African American studies
Ángela Pérez-Villa | Western Michigan University, history
Samiha Rahman | California State University Long Beach, human development
Joy Sales | California State University, Los Angeles, Asian and Asian American studies
Evelyn Soto | Rutgers University, English
Aida Villanueva Montalvo | University of Massachusetts, Amherst, sociology
Diane Wong | Rutgers University, political science

6-Month Fellows

Adolfo Bejar Lara | SUNY New Paltz, languages, literatures & cultures
Kathleen Cruz |University of California, Davis, classics
Brittney Edmonds |University of Wisconsin, Madison, African American Studies
Douglas Ishii | University of Washington, English
Jorge Leal | University of California, Riverside, history
Alyssa Lopez | Providence College, history and classics
Sarah Smith | Mount Holyoke College, gender studies
SaraEllen Strongman | University of Michigan, Afroamerican and African Studies
Fidel Tavarez | CUNY Queens College, history
Mai Thai | Occidental College, sociology