Review Procedures for Admission to the Woodson Residential Fellowship Program

All applications and supporting documents will be reviewed by a committee constituted of Woodson Institute Faculty and Affiliates according to the following research and teaching missions of the Institute:

1) We value research that is at the cutting edge of the fields of African American Studies, African Studies, and Afro-Caribbean Studies, and in those disciplines within the humanities and social sciences traditionally attuned to these fields.

2) Although candidates may be positioned critically in traditional disciplines, their work must be rigorously interdisciplinary without diminishing intellectual depth.

3) Such work should advance received scholarship in the fields of African American, African, and Afro-Caribbean Studies – its key theories, methods, themes, and problems.

3) We especially seek work that elucidates the trans-continental experiences and discourses related to the social, historical, and cultural construction of people of African descent through both traditional and recent approaches -- Pan-Africanism, Afrocentrism, Trans-Atlantic Studies, African Diaspora Studies, critical race theory, and cultural studies.

4) We seek work that advances theories on the construction of race, and race in relation to other social identities – class, gender, sexuality, nationality, disability – as well as that which focuses on refining methods of interdisciplinary scholarship on race.

5) We encourage research in these fields that engage the professions -- law, medicine, social work, public policy, education, architecture and planning -- in innovative ways.

6) We will favor candidates whose research can be readily adapted for the creation of courses and pedagogies directly pertinent to the Institute's curriculum in African American and Diasporic studies.

Proposals will be judged on the basis of the following criteria:

• The significance of the proposed work
• The qualifications of the applicant
• Familiarity with existing relevant research literature
• The research design of the project
• The promise of completion within the award period

Preference will be given to applicants whose field research is already substantially completed.

The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to making a final offer of employment. The University of Virginia is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer committed to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.