Mellon-Mays Undergraduate Fellowship

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF)

CSUDH is proud to be one of five CSU campuses—including CSU Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, CSU Los Angeles, and CSU San Bernardino—that houses the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program. This program is the centerpiece of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s initiatives to increase diversity in humanities faculty in institutions of higher learning. Established in 1988, the program’s initial cohort of eight member institutions has expanded considerably, comprising 48 member schools, including three South African universities, and three consortia, one of them composed of historically black colleges and universities within the membership of the UNCF. The California State University consortium is honored to join other MMUF institutions on the west coast, such as Stanford, UC Berkeley, Caltech, UCLA, USC, UC Riverside, Whittier College, and the Claremont Colleges consortium.

Open to students of all races and ethnicities, the program’s main objective is to increase the number of students committed to producing scholarship that contributes to complete and accurate narratives of the human experience. Students who demonstrate a commitment to the goals of MMUF, who will pursue a Ph.D. and a professorial career in the designated fields are eligible to apply. As such, the MMUF program aligns with the historical mission of CSUDH, a campus born from, and committed to, a vision and mission of social justice.

Each year, the CSUDH MMUF program will select four Mellon Fellows, who will receive financial assistance, close professional mentorship, summer research opportunities, and graduate application support while engaging in activities that help foster intellectual, social and cultural growth.For more information about the national program, please visit the national Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program page by clicking here.

Program Benefits

$2000 semester stipends
$4500 summer stipends to conduct research with a faculty mentor
$800 scholar development funds for travel and research expenses
GRE preparation and test reimbursement
Up to $10,000 repayment in undergraduate/graduate student loans, once entered into a Ph.D. program
Guest lectures and social/cultural activities throughout the year
Ongoing professional advising and moral support

MMUF fellows benefit most from continuing their studies with other students moving toward similar goals, including MMUF fellows at other institutions, creating a local, regional, and national cohort and support system.

Additional Opportunities

Regional Undergraduate Conferences

There are seven regional MMUF conferences, which bring together MMUF fellows and coordinators from member institutions in the same geographic region. At these conferences, often held annually, fellows will have the opportunity to present their research, make connections to other fellows outside their programs, and gain a sense of what academic conferences are like. CSUDH is part of the West Coast Conference, which includes:

California Institute of Technology

California State University Consortium

Claremont Colleges Consortium

Stanford University

University of California at Berkeley

University of California at Los Angeles

University of California at Riverside

University of New Mexico

University of Southern California

Whittier College

MMUF Undergraduate Journal

Since 1995, the Harvard University MMUF program has published the MMUF Undergraduate Journal, which features scholarly articles from MMUF fellows from all member institutions. The purpose of this journal is to showcase fellows’ research and scholarship, while also providing undergraduate students with a glimpse into the processes and expectations of academic publishing.