Fellowship Description
The Gaius Charles Bolin Fellowships at Williams College promote diversity on college faculties by encouraging graduate students from underrepresented groups to complete a terminal graduate degree and pursue careers in college teaching. The fellowship was established in 1985 to address the shortage of faculty of color in US colleges and universities.
Gaius Charles Bolin was the first Black graduate of Williams, in 1889. He was an active and influential member of his class who went on to a successful career as a lawyer in Poughkeepsie, NY. Bolin also was a founding member of the local branch of the NAACP, and was the first African-American president of the Dutchess County Bar Association. In 1969, eighty years after Gaius Bolin graduated, Joseph E. Harris, the first Black tenure-line faculty member, was hired at Williams.
These fellowships, which honor Gaius Bolin’s legacy, are two-year residencies at Williams. Two scholars or artists are appointed each year. Fellows devote the bulk of the first year to the completion of dissertation work—or in the case of MFA applicants, building their professional portfolios—while also teaching one course as a faculty member in one of the College’s academic departments or programs. The second year of residency (ideally with degree in hand) is spent on academic career development while again teaching just one course.
Fellowship Applications for Classics will open September 1, 2023, with a deadline of November 15, 2023.
Learn more about the Fellowships and the application process.
