Duke establishes 10 Summer Fellowships for Research on Racism, Systemic Inequalities

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The fellowships will support Duke Ph.D. students whose research is focused on an aspect of structural racism and inequality. The fellowships provide a stipend for June–August, plus summer tuition and health fee. The deadline to apply for summer 2021 is December 4, 2020.

“We have as a strength that many of our graduate students are focusing their research on complex questions and issues around race, racism, and systemic inequalities,” said Provost Sally Kornbluth, whose office is also funding two faculty funding opportunities for addressing racism and systemic inequalities. “We want to maximize the potential for our scholars-in-training to contribute new knowledge and understanding around these topics.”

Half of the 10 fellowships are supported by the Office of the Provost via funding from The Duke Endowment, and the other half are supported by the Graduate School Annual Fund.

The fellowships are one of the actions The Graduate School has taken to support the university’s anti-racism commitments. In addition to its ongoing diversity and inclusion initiatives, The Graduate School has also recently launched a Race and Bias Conversations series, and its staff helped facilitate departmental conversations with graduate students on those topics in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the resultant anti-racism protests.

“Addressing the legacy of racism is a complicated, difficult challenge, but Duke has a genuine opportunity in this moment to chart a path toward becoming a more inclusive, more equitable university,” said Paula D. McClain, dean of The Graduate School. “The Graduate School must be a key player in those efforts. I am grateful to Provost Kornbluth for her commitment through these Summer Research Fellowships, and to our supporters, whose generosity enables us to provide this resource for our students.”