For Graduate Students
Barclay Simpson Scholars in Public
Important Dates
Application Dates
Opens: October 20, 2026
Funding Term
Six weeks in the summer 2027
Eligibility
Doctoral students in the humanities disciplines, broadly construed, of the College of Arts & Sciences who have completed their work at the master’s level.
Description
The Simpson Center for the Humanities biannually invites proposals from doctoral students in the humanities to pursue public-facing projects in their areas of study and practice.
The fellowship builds on the Simpson Center’s longstanding commitment to public scholarship and furthers the ongoing work recognized by the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, a distinction earned by the University of Washington in 2020 and again in 2025. Composed of four doctoral students, fellowship cohorts, convened every other summer, meet to discuss their research in progress and participate in professional development workshops facilitated by members of the Simpson Center staff in their areas of expertise.
Applications will be reviewed by the Simpson Center Executive Board and Simpson Center Associate Director Rachel Arteaga, who convenes and facilitates the summer meetings.
Criteria
Awards are based predominantly on the scholarly merit of the application and the capacity of the proposed project to engage broader publics. The level of preparation demonstrated by applicants to undertake the project will also be considered.
Terms of Award
Students may only hold a Barclay Simpson Scholars in Public Fellowship once during their graduate career at UW.
The fellowship carries an award of $7,500, with no benefits or tuition. The explicit intent of this support is to allow fellows to devote themselves full time to their projects during the fellowship term. Projects do not necessarily have to be completed during the summer fellowship term.
To be eligible for this program, you must be a doctoral student who will not defend their dissertation prior to August 15, 2027. This eligibility requirement aims to ensure that the fellowship is a doctoral rather than post-doctoral opportunity. If an awardee's plans change and they schedule their defense for prior to August 15, 2027, they must notify the Simpson Center so the fellowship award can be given to an alternate.
Students are not required to be enrolled during the summer of 2027 to participate in this program. Payments will be processed through Workday for a payment date of July 25. Any tax withholdings you have signed up for will be applied against the payment. We encourage foreign national students to ensure any applicable tax treaties have been submitted (for guidance on this process, please contact Simpson Center Administrator Julie Tarr-Stoverink at julieis@uw.edu).
Summer Residency Requirements
In-person participation in the meetings of the fellowship cohort is an expectation of the program. This fellowship is not appropriate for those whose projects require time away from the university during the period of the meetings of the fellows or those who are unable to meet on the designated time. In Summer 2027, the meetings are anticipated to take place in an intensive format on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays during the weeks of June 21- July 2, followed by check-in and networking meetings on July 20 and 22.
Before commencing your application, be sure to review the Simpson Center’s Funding Process and AI Policy statements. Complete the Application Form (link goes live October 20). In the form, please include a word count total for your proposal narrative. Adherence to word count limits will be monitored as part of the proposal review process. Upload to the form the following materials bundled into a single pdf:
- Proposal Narrative. Limit 1,250 words. Proposal narratives should describe the project in language clear to non-specialists in the scholarly field. All narratives should address:
- The intellectual ambitions of the project, including guiding research questions and a brief statement about the significance of the work for the area of study and its potential contribution to the public good
- A description of the public audiences, partners, and/or stakeholders relevant to the project
- Preparation to undertake the project: please detail your level of experience with the area of the project and your competencies in any of its technical or specialized aspects; please also note, if relevant, connections with community partners or groups, if these have been established at the time of proposal submission
- A project plan, including a timeline describing what will be accomplished during the summer
- Letter of Support. Limit one, to be submitted directly by the recommender to schadmin@uw.edu. The letter should be written by 1) the student's primary advisor (in most cases, the dissertation advisor) 2) the faculty advisor to the public-facing project (if different from the primary advisor) OR 3) a community partner relevant to the project.
- CV. Please limit to 2 pages.