Student Award Programs
Taft provides more than $600,000 annually to support individual student research and creative endeavors.
From graduate fellowships to undergraduate mentorship programs, we cultivate student research at all levels and provide direct support to both students and our member units. We also sponsor a select number of students for external opportunities, including resdiential and virtual workshops.
Fellowships
Our Fellowship programs provide graduate students with the time, space, and resources to initiate, sustain, or complete substantial research projects, and include both year-long, residential and summer, non-residential options.
Dissertation Fellowship
Our signature residential fellowship program provides outstanding doctoral candidates with a year-long research assignment to advance their dissertation projects in a cross-disciplinary setting as members of the the weekly Taft Colloquium. Nine full-year fellowships are earmarked for superior graduate students in each Taft Ph.D.-granting department, with five available on a competitive basis across all units.
Counter Fellowship
New for the 2026–27 academic year, this year-long residential fellowship provides a modest stipend and monthly meetings for fellows to discuss and develop projects related to the Center’s annual theme.
Graduate Summer Fellowship
Taft provides a summer stipend of $3,000 to graduate students conducting focused research projects over the summer, supervised by a faculty mentor.
Research
Our Research award programs are designed to expand opportunities for undergraduate and graduate research in the humanities, broadly defined, and include funding for direct research costs, travel, and sharing research and creative work at established academic conferences.
Undergraduate Enrichment
This enrichment program supports advanced undergraduate students engaged in research projects that will significantly advance their major field learning experience with awards up to $2,000 for research expenses.
Graduate Enrichment
This enrichment program supports graduate students engaged in research projects that will significantly advance their degree program with awards up to $2,500 for research expenses.
Graduate Student Travel
This travel award program provides up to $700 per year for gradate students presenting their work at academic conferences anywhere in the world.
Graduate Enhancement Award
This program distributes funds to each graduate degree-granting Taft unit to use as they see fit to promote the recruitment, retention and advancement of excellent graduate students.
Mentorship
Our Mentorship programs support faculty mentored undergraduate summer resesarch, with stipend support available for both faculty and student researchers.
Summer Undergraduate Research Mentor-Mentee
Our signature faculty mentorship program provides $4,000 in faculty and student stipend support for undergraduate researchers working with a faculty mentor on faculty or student-led summer research projects.
McNair Summer Scholars Mentorship Award
We support faculty working with McNair Summer Scholars with $2,200 in faculty and student stipend support.
External Opportunities
Each year Taft nominates and sponsors graduate students on a competitive basis for select external opportunities that will advance their research and/or writing, covering all costs associated with thier participation.
Past Sponsored Opportunities
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Los Angeles Review of Books Publishing Workshop exists to revolutionize the publishing industry from the ground up by increasing access, facilitating change, and inspiring invention through the recruitment, training, and mentorship of early career talent.
National Humanities Center
Offered in 2025, “Humanities in Practice: Research, Pedagogy, and Principles for Emerging Professionals” was a week-long graduate summer residency that engaged participants in hands-on workshops to explore innovative research methodologies, effective teaching strategies, and the intricacies of securing grant funding.
The Op-Ed Project
Taft sponsors cohorts of faculty, students, and staff from member units and/or Taft-sponsored Research Groups to receive training and mentoring from editors and journalists on crafting, refining, and publishing their own op-eds.