“My favorite feature of the fellowship is the latitude that fellows have in the classroom. The Wellesley-Yenching Graduate Teaching Fellowship is a fantastic opportunity to explore teaching. This continued to be true as we transitioned to remote teaching [due to Covid-19], especially with the support of my co-fellows.”

The Mary Elvira Stevens Traveling Fellowship truly embodies Wellesley’s spirit of life-long education for women in its unique requirement that it should fund independent travel to unfamiliar territory for up to one full year. This stipulation inspires courage, imagination, tolerance, and curiosity from the nascent idea of the proposal throughout the process and during the grant year.

Abigail Rothberg ’01, Mary Elvira Stevens Fellow (2019-2020)

At some point in 2018, I realized I had to stop thinking of my professional life and what brought me joy as two distinct parts of my life. I needed what I did professionally to reflect who I am: a person passionate about social justice, and also someone who is silly and loves to laugh, someone imperfect and impatient, someone who loves staring at art, and someone who literally loves getting her hands dirty.

“The Rangel fellowship is a dream come true. I’m able to study what most interests me with a wonderful job waiting for me at the end of it.”

“The Gates Cambridge is this incredible gift—an opportunity to pitch your scholarly passion project to a committee that's willing to fall as hard for your subject as you have, provided you can illustrate how your passion can translate beyond the classroom and into a better world for all.”

“I want to make ethics accessible to people. Whatever form it takes, I want to bring ethical inquiry into the everyday, and the Watson will ground me in that work.”

“Crafting a proposal is a very introspective process. I was challenged to understand my motivations and interest in death and dying, then explain how those have informed my life’s course. From this, I gained a deeper sense of myself, academically and personally, which was rewarding in and of itself.”

“I’m excited to see how my beliefs will change, and how my project will evolve when my presumptions are questioned.”

“Being offered the Watson Fellowship is similar to someone tapping you on the shoulder, looking you straight in the eyes, and saying, ‘You've shown me a small glimpse of that which you love, and while I’m not here to answer the questions you have, I can give you the time and space to chase them until next year’s horizon.’”

“I am most excited about meeting and learning from people all over the world, and observing and hearing about their connections to land and food. Everybody needs food, but everyone's experiences and perspectives are different. I can't really imagine where this year will take me, but I know it will be transformative.”

“For me, the Watson was not about a year-long adventure but about learning to see the possibilities available in the world and realizing that I am capable of pursuing any of them I want.”

Schimke and Shackford Graduate Fellowships (women graduates of any US institution)

Kate Dailinger
Kate Dailinger

Wellesley College offers a number of fellowships and scholarships for graduate study or research open to seniors and graduates of Wellesley. Two of these awards are also open to women graduates of any American institution. The Mary McEwen Schimke Scholarship is a supplemental award to provide relief from household and child care expenses while pursuing graduate study, and the M.A. Cartland Shackford Medical Fellowship is for the study of medicine with a view to general practice, not psychiatry.

    “I’m glad I decided to pursue Fulbright. It gave me an opportunity to share my unique experience as an immigrant and first-generation college student, not only with my Chinese colleagues, but also with other international students at Northwest University, who rarely meet Chinese Americans.“ 

    Fellowships and Scholarships for Study Abroad

    Caitlin Roberts-Donovan
    Caitlin Roberts-Donovan

    About 45% of Wellesley students pursue study abroad during their time as an undergraduate—and fellowships and scholarships can help support that study!  Explore this resource for specific opportunities and advice on how to get started.

    Teaching Fellowships

    Caitlin Roberts-Donovan
    Caitlin Roberts-Donovan

    One of the common “purposeful activities” that fellowships can fund is teaching: in the U.S. or abroad; opportunities with or without previous teaching experience; and at all levels of instruction, from elementary school to university level and beyond. This resource is by no means exhaustive, but instead aims to provide seniors and graduates with an introduction to the biggest and most common teaching fellowships

    “I will be the first doctor in my family and the first to attend graduate school with the gift of the Sarah Perry Wood Medical Fellowship.”

    “[There are] a lot of different conceptions of the ocean, and a lot of exciting and creative solutions that are happening all over the world.”