How to Apply

Applications for AY 2027-28 will be announced in Fall 2026.

Our residential fellowships are for a full academic year (nine months, typically coincidental with SMU’s academic calendar). Competition is open to Ph.D.-holding individuals in any field in the humanities or social sciences conducting research on Texas, the American Southwest (including California in all periods), or the U.S.-Mexico borderlands, as well as comparative projects with at least one foot in the region. Our fellowships are expressly designed to provide time for junior and senior scholars to bring book-length projects to completion, and as such do not include any teaching responsibilities or obligations.  

We offer a research and travel allowance in addition to a publication subvention, and we convene a manuscript workshop for each fellow during their time in residence, sessions in which scholars read and critique a pre-circulated draft in order to advise the author about how to make it the best and most influential book possible. 

Please note that our fellowships cannot be used to finish a dissertation or to begin a new book project.  Moreover, please be advised that fellows are expected to be in residence in Dallas for the duration of the fellowship period, coincident with SMU’s academic calendar (roughly mid-August through mid-May), in order to participate fully in the intellectual and social life of the Clements Center.

Full-year fellowships carry a stipend of $50,000 ($65,000 for the senior fellow), benefits where eligible, a $3,000 allowance for research and travel expenses, and a publication subvention. 

For full consideration, applicants must submit the following:

* A curriculum vitae
* A letter of interest outlining a description of their project and research agenda (two pages max)
* A sample chapter from the manuscript in MS Word
* Three letters of reference from persons who can assess the significance of the work and the ability of the applicant to carry it out.

Please direct questions or requests for additional information to Assistant Director Brennan Gardner Rivas at bnrivas@smu.edu.

Image: 2022-23 Fellows left to right: Katherine Bynum, Tiffany Gonzalez, Nicholas Myers, Michael Phillips