The Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty requests nominations for the thirteenth cohort of Penn Fellows and for a new faculty development program, the Provost’s Arts and Humanities Project. 

The Penn Fellows program provides select mid-career faculty (newly tenured to early full professors) with opportunities to develop leadership skills, build networks, think strategically, and interact with campus leaders. It also strives to promote a cross-University network of support for participants as they move through their careers. Previous Penn Fellows have subsequently served as deans, vice provosts, and department chairs. 

This year, we are offering a parallel program to the Penn Fellows program, the Provost’s Arts and Humanities Leadership Project. Funded by the Mellon Foundation, this project seeks to support mid-career faculty (newly tenured to early full professors) from core humanities and arts disciplines and from departments that are strongly inflected by the humanities and/or scholars whose work is strongly based on cultural/historical analysis. The program is intended to orient arts and humanities faculty to the fundamentals of leadership roles, encourage collaboration and community across departments and disciplines, and build the next generation of higher education leaders inflected with humanistic culture and values. 

Participants are expected to participate in the leadership development sessions created for each program, which will be scheduled over the course of the 2021-2022 academic year, and will also be invited to participate in the Provost’s Leadership Academy.

Candidates for both programs should be mid-career faculty (newly tenured to early full professors) with interest in higher education leadership, administrative leadership potential, and a demonstrated record of academic excellence. Of particular interest are faculty who have not yet held senior higher education leadership positions, faculty from groups that are historically underrepresented in higher education leadership, and faculty who can further contribute to the excellence and diversity of our campus leadership. 

The Mellon Fellows program is limited to faculty in core humanities and arts disciplines, from departments that are strongly inflected by the humanities, and/or whose work is strongly based on cultural/historical analysis are eligible. 

Approximately 15 faculty members will be selected for each of these two programs. Nominations should be submitted to provost-fac@upenn.edu by Sunday, January 31, 2021. Nominations should identify the preferred program and include a letter of support from the dean or department chair and the candidate’s CV. Previously nominated candidates may be re-nominated. Questions can be addressed to Lubna Mian at: mian@upenn.edu.