Deadline: 29-Oct-2025
The Luce/ACLS Dissertation Fellowships in American Art supports PhD candidates conducting dissertation research on the history of the visual arts of the United States, including all facets of Native American art, through a prestigious, inclusive fellowship that spans nine to twelve continuous months.
Supporting graduate students pursuing research on the history of art and visual culture of the United States, including all aspects of Native American art, and who are at any stage of PhD dissertation research or writing.
The fellowship provides seven non-renewable awards, each for a continuous nine- to twelve-month term between July 2026 and May 2027. The award cannot be used for tuition or held concurrently with another major fellowship or grant, and the term must conclude before the PhD is completed. The total award of $42,500 includes a stipend of $38,000, plus up to $4,500 as a travel and research allowance, made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation.
Applicants must be doctoral students at universities in the United States in art history or related fields such as Native American and Indigenous studies or ethnic studies. The dissertation must focus on the history of U.S. visual arts—especially on the art object or image—with an art-historical or visual studies approach. Applicants must have completed all PhD requirements except the dissertation before beginning the fellowship and must not have applied for this fellowship more than once. Eligibility extends to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, Indigenous persons living in the U.S. through Jay Treaty rights, DACA recipients, asylees, refugees, or individuals granted Temporary Protected Status.
Applications open in July 2025, and complete proposals must be submitted through the ACLS online system by 9:00 PM EDT on October 29, 2025. Notifications of awards will be emailed by mid-March 2026.
Required application materials include a completed form; an eight-page (max), double-spaced proposal in Arial or Helvetica 11-pt with at least three images; a four-page annotated bibliography of key secondary sources; an optional one-page list of scholarly outputs; two reference letters (one from the dissertation advisor); and an institutional statement confirming PhD candidacy status, tuition waiver, and access to research facilities. Applicants must also have an ORCID ID.
Reviewers evaluate proposals based on ACLS’s commitment to inclusive excellence, including the proposal’s quality in methodology, theoretical framing, scholarly grounding, and its potential to advance American art studies.
For more information, visit ACLS.
