Thurgood Marshall Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowship

Thurgood Marshall Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellowship

The goal of the Thurgood Marshall Dissertation Fellowship is to promote student and faculty diversity at Dartmouth, and throughout higher education, by supporting completion of the doctorate by scholars with a demonstrated commitment and ability to advance educational diversity. Fellows participate together in mentoring and professional development programming, including guidance in preparing for faculty careers. 

For general inquiries, please contact the Graduate School at (603) 646-2106 or email PROF.Fellows@Dartmouth.edu

Application Information

Dartmouth College invites applications for the Thurgood Marshall Pre-to-Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Department of African and African American Studies. This fellowship supports scholars whose research addresses any geographies, disciplines, and interdisciplinary spaces across African Diaspora, African American, African, or Africana Studies. In addition, the fellowship promotes student and faculty diversity at Dartmouth, and throughout higher education, by supporting completion of the doctorate by underrepresented scholars and others with a demonstrated ability to advance educational diversity and inclusivity. Applicants will be selected on the basis of their academic achievement, promise in research and teaching, and demonstrated commitment to addressing underrepresentation in higher education.

This is a two-year residential fellowship in which the fellow is focused on their research and writing. We seek scholars who can contribute to building the intellectual life of the AAAS department and Dartmouth College. Fellows are expected to complete the dissertation at the end of their first year and then transition to a postdoctoral appointment for the second year. Fellows receive an annual stipend of approximately $49,860 in the first year as a predoctoral fellow, $67,580 in the second year as a postdoctoral fellow, plus benefits and an allocation for research expenses (exact funding levels will be set at the time of offer).

Guarini Dean's Postdoctoral Fellows are part of the Provost's Fellowship Program (PROF), a multidisciplinary cohort of approximately ten predoctoral and postdoctoral scholars who share a commitment to increasing inclusive access in their disciplines and higher education. Fellows participate together in mentoring and professional development programming, including guidance in preparing for faculty careers. Postdoctoral researchers are supported by the Guarini School for Graduate and Advanced Studies, including their community initiatives

Dartmouth is committed to academic excellence and encourages the open exchange of ideas within a culture of mutual respect. Dartmouth welcomes people with different backgrounds, life experiences, and perspectives and believes that diversity in all its forms enhances academic excellence. Applicants should address in their fellowship statement how their research, teaching, service, and/or life experiences prepare them to serve Dartmouth's commitment to academic excellence in an environment that is welcoming to all.

The application for the 26-28 cycle is now available via Interfolio

Review of applications will begin February 15, 2026 and continue until the position is filled. For questions about the position, please contact Roger Arnold at Roger.D.Arnold@dartmouth.edu.

Dartmouth College is an equal opportunity employer under federal law. We prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, veteran status, marital status, or any other legally protected status. Applications are welcome from all.

Dartmouth is committed to accessibility for its community. If you are an applicant with a disability and would like to request a reasonable accommodation to aid in the job application and/or interview process, please email: ADA@Dartmouth.edu. In the subject line, please state application accommodations and include the job number or title. Someone from the ADA/504 Office will be in touch within 2 business days.

2025-27 Thurgood Marshall Fellow

Bria Paige, Rutgers University

Bria E. Paige is a black feminist theorist researching and teaching across her varied interests in 20th and 21st century African American and African diasporic literature and culture. Currently, an advanced Ph.D. candidate in the department of English at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, Bria is completing her dissertation which charts the long history of Black women's exhaustion within 20th and 21st century Black women's writing and other forms of cultural production. In addition to being the 2025-2027 Thurgood Marshall Dissertation and Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of African and African American Studies (AAAS) at Dartmouth College, Bria's research is supported by an American Association of University Women (AAUW) Dissertation Completion Fellowship. Bria's scholarly work can be found most recently in The Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival 50th Anniversary Special Issue of Callaloo published in Summer 2024

2024-26 Thurgood Marshall Fellow

Brittney Frantece, University of Washington, Seattle

Brittney Frantece is a writer, artist, educator, and curator whose work delves into Black speculative literature and visual arts through the lens of Black feminist and queer theories. Her dissertation explores the new and otherworldly ways of thinking, being, and knowledge productions that Black imaginations offer. Science-fiction, surrealism, and horror are crucial concepts that run throughout Frantece's body of work. Her writing has appeared in Variable WestBlack Embodiments Studio Journals, and various art writing collections. She curated Black Invention in 3 Parts (2023) at Soil Art Gallery, Portraits of Ecstatic Feeling: Al Smith Collection (2022) for MOHAI, and We Black, We Surreal (2023) and Queer Imaginations (2021) at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.