The Institute awards some 25-36 stipendary and non-stipendary fellowships to internal and external applicants each year. The College of Letters and Science and generous gifts to the Institute fund Institute fellowships, unless otherwise noted. Those with a Mellon/ACLS Recent Doctoral Recipient Fellowship can identify the Institute as a residency site. Institute fellowships are open to applicants in any discipline or field whose project has a clear relationship to and significance for the humanities. Fellowships are not limited by theme or research area, with the exception of the external Solmsen Post-Doctoral Fellowships and the internal Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity Fellowships.
Fellowships are awarded across the spectrum of the humanities on the basis of the significance of proposed research, the record and potential of the applicant, and the promise of interdisciplinary engagement in the Institute's intellectual community. All fellows are expected to participate in the weekly Institute seminars; some fellows are required to present their work at an Institute seminar; other fellows are given the option of presenting their work, schedule permitting. The Institute administers fellowship competitions, with selection committees appointed by the director and drawn from the Institute's Senior Fellows, UW-Madison faculty, and the associate deans for the humanities of the College and the Graduate School.
Fellows have access to all UW-Madison libraries and campus facilities, an email account, an office at the Institute (space permitting), photocopying, mailbox, and assistance from Institute support staff. The UW-Madison Libraries offer a world-class library system with over 7.3 million printed volumes, many distinguished special collections, and millions of resources in other formats, including journals, databases, microfilms, government documents, etc. For more detailed information about the library collections, contact Susan Barribeau, the Humanities Librarian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Memorial Library. The State Historical Library is a national depository of books and papers in American history and culture, a major resource for Americanists in the humanities.
External fellows need to locate suitable housing on their own, but the director's assistant will assist in the search, if needed. The Office of Off-Campus Housing is also a resource. Housing should be acquired as soon as possible, as the most desirable rentals are typically secured well in advance.