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:

 

 

Copies of the Lilly Graduate Fellows Brochure and Announcement can be downloaded with the links below:

 


To learn more about the individual the Lilly Graduate Fellows Cohorts, follow the links below:


First Cohort

Second Cohort

Third Cohort

Fourth Cohort

Fifth Cohort

Sixth Cohort

Seventh Cohort

Eighth Cohort

Ninth Cohort
 
Tenth Cohort

Eleventh Cohort
Twelfth Cohort

Noteworthy News

November Lilly Network Update

The Current Lilly Network Update for November 2023 is now available. Click here.


Announcing the winner of the 2023 Lilly Network Book Award

The Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities is pleased to announce Willie James Jennings' After Whiteness: An Education in Belonging as its 2023 Book Award Winner. For more information and to see a complete list of finalists, click here.


Call for applications for the 2024-2026 Cohort of the Lilly Faculty Fellows Program

Applications for the 2024-2026 Cohort of the Lilly Faculty Fellows Program for mid-career faculty are due November 15. For more information and to apply, click here.


Lilly Network of Church- Related Colleges and Universities

If you are interested in learning more about membership in the Lilly Network of Church-Related Colleges and Universities, please contact us here.


New edition of Leading Lives that Matter released

In their second edition of Leading Lives That Matter, editors Mark Schwehn and Dorothy Bass compile a wide range of texts—from ancient and contemporary literature, social commentary, and philosophy—related to questions of vital interest for those who are trying to decide what to do with their lives and what kind of human beings they hope to become. Leading Lives that Matter has been an important text in many of our fellowship and grant programs, and it contains excellent resources. Click here for more information and an excerpt.