MITH invites Resident Fellowship applications from the University of Maryland’s College of Arts & Humanities and the University Libraries each year. Resident Fellowships are opportunities for Maryland faculty, including humanists, technologists, and librarians, to develop their research or teaching in ways that implement and leverage digital tools and resources to create a “working prototype” of a digital humanities project. Recent Resident Fellowships have produced projects including a archive of foreign literatures in America, a digitally collated edition of Hebrew legal texts, and an online repository of artifacts of nineteenth century African American history in New York.
Resident Fellowships help to jump-start digital work through engagement with MITH’s intellectual and technical communities. Fellowships offer various levels of customized programming and technical support, temporary server space, design work, and project management, as well as training and mentorship. MITH’s contribution to fellows’ projects is a collaboration, and fellows are expected to become active members in the MITH community by participating in MITH events and presenting their work in MITH’s Digital Dialogue series. Successful fellows projects have received grant funding beyond their initial prototypes, and we strongly encourage fellowship applicants to identify outside funding sources to support their continued development beyond the fellowship period.
Although MITH has no funding for course buy-outs, we hope that prospective fellows will be able to receive support relief from some of their teaching or service responsibilities by applying to their unit, to their Dean, to one of the university’s research or instructional improvement support award programs (from RASA, Undergraduate Studies, the Diversity Initiative Faculty Relations Committee, for example), or to outside funding sources.
Application Process
Applications are accepted in the spring semester, and judged by a committee appointed by the Director of MITH. Deadlines will be announced on the MITH-COMMUNITY listserv, MITH blog, and MITH twitter feed. Consideration will be given to the extent to which digital technologies are a part of the research plan and/or the pedagogical methodology being developed. Proposals should specify why MITH would be crucial to the project’s development. Applications typically include:
- a current short c.v.
- a one-paragraph abstract of the proposal
- the proposal itself, which should be no longer than three pages and which should specifically address the following points:
- the project that you will work on if awarded the fellowship at MITH
- how the use of advanced technology would help achieve your research goals and contribute to the intellectual outcome
- hardware and software needs
- a detailed timetable or workplan for completion of the project
- a description of the rights situation of the materials to be used for the project (in other words, whether permissions have been obtained to use the material and what will be required to obtain permission)
- what other electronic research is relevant to your project
- what other funding sources you have or will pursue in relation to the project
- a supporting letter from your Chair
Questions about the application or the process should be addressed to Jennifer Guiliano, Assistant Director of MITH, at guiliano@umd.edu.