Barnard College Barnard College
Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

Mellon Fellows & Alumnae

Barnard Alumnae have earned PhDs from the following programs:

  • Harvard University, English and American Literature and Language

  • University of California Berkeley, Anthropology

  • Columbia University, Ethnomusicology

  • University of California, Santa Barbara, Religion

  • Harvard University, Art History

  • The New School for Social Research, Anthropology

  • CUNY, Grad Center, Art History 

  • Duke University, English, Africana, Women’s Studies

  • University of California, Berkeley, Rhetoric

  • Nova Southeastern University, Conflict Analysis and Resolution

  • University of Pennsylvania, Physics

  • New York University, Art History

  • Yale University, Physics

  • Michigan State University, Philosophy

  • Northwestern University, African American Studies

  • Louisiana State University, Anthropology 

  • University of Michigan, English 

  • University of Michigan, History  

  • Northwestern University, African American Studies

  • University of Chicago, Anthropology

 

Our Alumnae are currently earning degrees in the following PhD programs:

  • Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania

  • History and East Asian Languages, Harvard University 

  • Sociology, University of Wisconsin

  • Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

  • Anthropology, New York University 

  • Classics, Princeton University

  • Ethnic Studies, University of California Berkeley

  • History, Yale University

  • University of California, Berkeley, School of Information

 

MMUF Fellows have recently earned Master's degrees (fully-funded)at:

  • Princeton University, Public Policy

  • New York University, Latin American Studies

 

Barnard MMUF Distinguished Lecturers

In 2009, Barnard received funds from the Mellon Foundation to establish the Barnard MMUF Distinguished Lecture, which serves to promote the excellence of the national Mellon Mays program to the Barnard/Columbia campus by highlighting the scholarly work of one of MMUF’s distinguished, tenured PhDs. We have invited the following scholars to campus to talk about their work and the influence of MMUF on their academic careers.

  • 2009-10: Duchess Harris, American Studies, Macalester College, "Black Feminist Politics from Kennedy to Clinton"
  • 2010-11: Adriana Estill, English and American Studies, Carleton College, "Fashionably Ugly: the Beauty Politics of Ugly Betty in a 'Post-Racial' Landscape" 
  • 2011-12: Ruby Tapia, English and Women’s Studies, University of Michigan,  “American Pietàs: Visions of Race, Death, and the Maternal” 
  • 2012-13: Leigh Raiford, African American Studies, University of California, Berkeley, “Civil Rights Movement Photography and Its Legacies”
  • 2013-14: Jaqueline Stewart, Cinema Studies,  University of Chicago, “The Films of Spencer Williams: A Comic History of Race Movies”
  • 2014-15: Hugo Benavides, Anthropology, Fordham University, "between Foucault and a naked man: The Politics of Race, Sex and 'el buen vivir’ "
  • 2015-2016, Imani Perry, African American Studies, Princeton University, “The Task of the Scholar in The Digital Age”
  • 2016-2017: Rosamund King, English, Brooklyn College "Struggle and/in Joy: My Life (in Academia and Art)" 
  • 2017-2018: Heath Davis, Political Science, Temple University, “Trans-Activating the Academy”
  • 2018-19: Jaqueline Lazu, Modern Languages (Spanish), De Paul University, “Racism and Criminology”

In spring of 2023, we hosted the BC MMUF Alum Symposium, celebrating the scholarship and academic journeys of seven of our alums who have earned the PhD recently.