About Graduate Fellows Program

The LFP has determined to pause the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program selection process for one year and therefore will not recruit Lilly Graduate Fellows in the 2022-23 academic year. This pause will allow the LFP to assess a number of questions regarding changes in graduate education, the academic job market, and higher education more generally that impact the nature of the program and the process of recruitment.

The LFP Staff is also pursuing opportunities to begin a graduate fellowship program in STEM fields to complement the ongoing program in the humanities and the arts. Look for updates on these developments.

The Lilly Graduate Fellows Program supports, during the course of their graduate education, exceptionally well qualified students who have bachelor degrees from LFP Network Schools and who are interested in becoming teacher-scholars at church-related colleges and universities in the United States.

The Three-Year Program:

Cohorts of the Lilly Graduate Fellows three-year program now commence every other year, with the next cohort beginning in fall 2021. The 2021-2024 Lilly Graduate Fellows will enter graduate school in fall 2020 or in fall 2021. In academic year 2020-2021, the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program will select a cohort of 10 fellows who are entering PhD or equivalent graduate programs in humanities and arts at schools of their choosing. Finalists will be selected in both academic years, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, and will commence with the program in fall 2021.

Over a three year period, these Fellows, along with two mentors who are senior scholars at a Lilly Fellows Program Network School, will communicate and collaborate with each other in areas of research, teaching, and professional development.

The program will reach completion with the introduction of the Graduate Fellows to representatives of the Lilly Fellows Program National Network at the Network’s annual national conference. More specifically, Lilly Graduate Fellows will participate in the following programmatic objectives:

Four Conferences:
Lilly Graduate Fellows attend four conferences over the course of three years. These conferences allow Fellows to collaborate with each other and with senior scholars and luminaries who integrate research, teaching, vocation, and an interest in church-related higher education.

Mentoring Relationship:
Lilly Graduate Fellows will develop a relationship with two mentors who are senior scholars at a Lilly Fellows Program Network School.

Online Colloquium:
Lilly Graduate Fellows and mentors, over the course of the three-year program, will participate in common readings and online discussions that explore the intersections of Christianity and higher learning by drawing on classical and contemporary works of art, literature, theology, history, and philosophy. This colloquium requires an average time commitment of two to three hours per week. Cohorts in the past have engaged such thinkers as Simone Weil, Augustine, Dostoevsky, Dante, and Flannery O’Connor.

Lilly Graduate Fellows will receive three annual $3,000 fellowship awards for use at the Fellows’ discretion.

Nomination:

All nominees for the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program must be nominated by their LFP National Network Undergraduate institutions. Each Network Institution can nominate up to three nominees. To inquire about nomination, please contact the LFP Network Representative at your Undergraduate Institution. To find the names and contact information for your campus representatives, click here.

LFP National Network Campus Representatives must submit up to three nominees during the academic year 2020-2021 for the 2021-2024 Program Cohort no later than November 10, 2020.

Finalists must attend an Interview Conference April 8-10, 2021. Fellows must attend an Inaugural Conference August 2-5, 2021. If selected, Fellows commence the program in fall 2021. The LGFP will cover all expenses for these events. Final selection of the Lilly Graduate fellows is made by a selection committee and Lilly Fellows Program staff. Ten graduate fellowships will be awarded.

To learn more about eligibility, nomination guidelines, and application procedures, please follow the links below: