Mellon Visiting Professorship
Selection Process | Responsibilities/Compensation | Application
Selection process:
Candidates for the visiting professorship will be nominated by members of the Council on Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Nominations should be sent to the Academic Program Coordinator by January 15, one academic year prior to the arrival for the proposed exchange. A Duke Council on Latin American and Caribbean Studies member can sponsor one visiting professorship application per year, and in so doing agrees to assist the visitor with the application process, in the "settling in" process upon arrival at Duke, and as a mentor during the visitor's stay on campus.
Priority will be given to inviting scholars who are citizens of Latin American and Caribbean countries and who reside in the region. We might invite scholars who are U.S. citizens by birth but who have been living and working in the region for many years or, in exceptional cases, scholars who are Latin American or Caribbean by birth but who have been residing and working outside of the region.
In selecting Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Professors in Latin American & Caribbean Studies, the advisory committee considers the following: 1) topical relevance of proposed courses and research; 2) student appeal of proposed courses and pedagogical innovation, 3) intellectual excellence, 4) potential contribution to Latin American and Caribbean studies program at Duke. There is a strong preference for the visiting professor to be able to teach in English, since he/she may be responsible for teaching the undergraduate capstone course.
The advisory committee will make an effort to ensure broad disciplinary and geographical representation among the visitors being invited over a 5-year period. The committee will attempt to have balanced representation among the social sciences and humanities. The overall needs of the program in any given year will play an important role in the final decision-making of this very competitive process. Invitations will be made for a particular semester and cannot be postponed. In the case of an awardee being unable to accept an invitation for a particular semester, the application would have to be reconsidered in a subsequent year's competition.
Successful applicants could include up and coming younger scholars, as well as distinguished senior specialists. Visitors could also include writers-in-residence, performers, artists, environmentalists and activists.