Letter from the Faculty Director

Dr. Jonathan Fenderson

Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, Palo Alto, Providence, Durham, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Columbia (MO), Oxford (England), London, Durban (South Africa), Accra (Ghana)…these are just a few of the places around the world that our Mellon Fellows have journeyed in the last couple years, as they conduct research and pursue scholarly opportunities. While this list is not exhaustive, it offers a glimpse of the incredible opportunities fostered by the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF). We know that imagining the world is an integral part of intellectual life, but traveling and seeing the world is one of the greatest, yet understated, rewards that a life of the mind can afford.

As our graduating seniors soar to new heights and put the finishing touches on their undergrad careers, I remain encouraged by the ways they have learned to maximize each and every opportunity that has come their way. Our junior class (or should we say “rising seniors”), also known as Cohort 30, has done the same—joining summer research programs, studying abroad, and advancing scholarship that is both innovative and meaningful. Perhaps even more important, each cohort has understood the value of helping the subsequent class; embodying the true spirit of MMUF. As a result, each cohort pushes a little bit further, expanding the intellectual footprint of our Program, and marking our presence in different regions of the globe. This ambition to see the world through our work, to venture to different corners of the earth, and to pursue new opportunities born out of intellectual interests is what excites me most about working with the incredibly talented students in MMUF. And if there’s anything we can surmise from our newly recruited Fellows, Cohort 31, it is that the students are applying to the Program with this understanding and ambition in mind!

As our Mellon Fellows—past and present—continue to make their mark on the world, and as our Program continues to thrive, we also continue to amass interpersonal and collective debts of gratitude; to our faculty mentors, to supportive staff members, to previous directors, to the College of Arts & Science, and to many more. Each new debt is further evidence of a shared belief in the value of higher education, and the great rewards that await those who pursue a life of the mind.