Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Fund for Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships in Jewish Studies

Applications for 2011 are now live! Apply here. The application is due by 4:00 PM on December 15th, 2010, with a sample chapter (or suitable equivalent) submitted by April 1, 2011. See below for details.

Overview

The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Fund for Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships in Jewish Studies encourages scholarly research, publication and teaching in the various disciplines of Jewish studies. Established in 1960, we have awarded fellowships to over 600 scholars, including many leaders in the field.

The Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships in Jewish Studies are made for one academic year and are given for the final stages of completing a dissertation, typically in the fifth year of study. Applicants should have completed all doctoral requirements, except for the completion of their thesis, and must show evidence of being able to complete their thesis within the fellowship year.

Four fellowships of $16,000 were granted in 2010.

To download the guidelines please click here.

To download the Funding Opportunities for Jewish Studies chart from our 2010 Doctoral Dissertation evaluation please click here.

Eligibility

The Doctoral Dissertation grant is intended to help students in their last year of thesis writing only. Beginning with the 2011 grant cycle, we will no longer accept applications from students who have applied previously. An exception will be made only for those students who previously applied in 2010. Please note that beginning this year, the we will require all applicants to submit a sample chapter (or suitable equivalent) by April 1, 2011. This submission will help our scholarship panel to ensure that applicants are well positioned to complete their thesis during the fellowship year.

Applicants should:

• Be citizens or permanent residents of the United States or Canada;
• Have completed all academic requirements for the Ph.D., except dissertation, by the date of application;
• Demonstrate significant course work in Jewish studies at the graduate level;
• Provide evidence of proficiency in a Jewish language (i.e. Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Aramaic, etc.);
• Have a proposal or prospectus that has been approved by a thesis committee;
• Complete online application in full. Partially completed applications cannot accepted. It is the responsibility of the student to ensure that applications are complete by the deadline.

A strong preference is given to individuals preparing for academic careers in Jewish studies, and to those who indicate that they will pursue a career in the United States.

To enable recipients to devote themselves fully to completing the dissertation, it is expected that they will not hold a full-time job or equivalent academic workload during the fellowship year. We request that grantees inform us of any other fellowships or grants they may receive during their fellowship year.

Fellowships cannot be postponed or deferred to another year. Grantees who defer their awards will not receive special consideration upon reapplication

Criteria for Selection

Each application is reviewed according to the following criteria:

• Academic promise and ability of candidate as judged by previous performance and recommendations;
• Potential of project to significantly impact understanding of Jewish life, culture or thought ;
• Clarity, originality, breadth, and depth of the thesis proposal;
• Qualifications and academic record of applicant's advisors and references;
• Likelihood that an applicant will go on to teach Jewish Studies at an American college or university.

Recent Panelists

The 2009–2010 academic advisory panel was co-chaired by Dr. Elisheva Carlebach of Columbia University and Dr. David Myers of the University of California-Los Angeles.

In addition to Drs. Carlebach and Myers, the selection panel included Dr. Pamela Nadell (American Jewish history, American University), Dr. Eugene Shepphard (Modern Jewish Thought, Brandeis University), Dr. Jonathan Decter (Sephardic Studies, Brandeis University), Dr. Christine Hayes (Religious Studies in Classical Judaica, Yale University), and Dr. Benjamin Sommer (Professor of Bible, JTS).

Current Grantees

We awarded four grants for the year 2010–2011, recognizing the work of:

Dina Danon The Transformation of the Jewish Community of Izmir, Stanford University, History Department

Evelyn Dean-Olmsted To be a Mexican Arab Jew: Navigating Class and Religion in Mexico City, Indiana University, Department of Anthropology

Liora Halperin Babel in Zion: The Politics of Language Diversity in Jewish Palestine, 1920-1948, University of California-Los Angeles, History Department

Jason Moktarian Rabbinic Portrayals of Persia: A Study of Babylonian Rabbinic Culture in its Sasanian Context, University of California-Los Angeles, Department of Near Eastern Language and Cultures

For a complete list of past grantees, click here.

For further information, please contact us at grants@jewishculture.org.

Program Funders

The Maurice and Marilyn Cohen Fund for Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships in Jewish Studies has received generous major support from The Dorot Foundation, The Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, Association for American Jewish Studies, Robert S. Rifkind, E. Robert Goodkind, Linda and Shearn Platt, Kerri Steinberg, Arthur and Susie Goldner, Joan Schnitzer Levy, Louis Blumengarten, and the Paul S. Nadler Family Charitable Trust.