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About the Institute

At a Glance

The Woodson Institute has earned international acclaim as a magnet for some the world’s best graduate students in the humanities and social sciences, creating a collaborative, supportive, and interdisciplinary environment for innovative scholarship. The fellowship program provides scholars time to complete their research before they jump into the responsibilities of teaching full time; at the same time, Woodson Fellows are immersed in a community of scholars who bring the perspectives of their various disciplines to bear on advancing each other’s scholarship during monthly workshops. In these regular workshops, pre and post-doctoral fellows receive feedback on dissertation or manuscript chapters from a guest interlocutors , the director of Fellowships, and their colleagues in the fellowship program. 

Since its inception, the fellowship program has supported over 180 emerging scholars (and counting!). Its high rate of success has placed its fellows in tenure-track positions and post-doctoral fellowships at colleges and universities across the nation, including: 

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About Woodson Institute

As the crown jewel of the research Institute, the Woodson takes pride in the spirit of being at the cutting edge of scholarship in Africana Studies as articulated by Deborah McDowell, Woodson Director from 2009 - 2021.

"If you want to find out where scholarship is going in African American and African Diaspora scholarship, across the disciplines, find out who is at the Woodson Institute.”

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Apply 

Visit the fellowship program page for more information about how to apply to the Woodson Fellowship program. Applications are due on the 1st of December by 11:59 pm.

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Meet the Woodson Fellows

Current Fellows

Review the bios and project descriptions for the current cohort of Woodson Fellows 

Fellowship Alumni

Browse the alumni of the Woodson Fellowship program from 1981 to present

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The Institute's Public Outreach Mission

As a major research institute, the Woodson prioritizes public outreach through events, grant-funded projects, and workshops with K-12 teachers. Our mission emphasizes the importance of sharing knowledge and advancing black studies scholarship in the spirit of our namesake Carter G. Woodson. As such, public engagement has been at the heart of the Institute since its inception. Read more about the public engagement projects at the core of the Institute's mission.