Deadline: 3 February 2025, 11:59pm ET

Eligibility

The Society makes available three funded dissertation-year fellowships each year. Any student registered in good standing for a doctorate at a North American* university who has completed all formal degree requirements except the dissertation at the time of full application is eligible to apply. The fellowships are not intended for support of the early stages of research: it is expected that a fellow's dissertation will be completed within the fellowship year.

Any submission for a doctoral degree in which the emphasis is on musical scholarship will be eligible.

*Includes all 23 countries in the North American continent

Competition and Application Procedures

Application deadline: 11:59pm EST, 3 February 2025

Please note: AMS Fellowships now use a common application. If you are eligible for and wish to apply for more than one AMS fellowship, you may do so by completing a single common application. You must indicate on the form for which fellowship(s) you are applying.

To apply for the Alvin H. Johnson AMS 50 Dissertation Fellowship, you will be required to provide the following materials:

1. A brief (1,000 character) dissertation project description.
2. A current dissertation proposal of 2,000-4,000 words, double-spaced, in 12-point font. The proposal should include a detailed rationale of the project (supported by, but not limited to, an assessment of relevant secondary literature) and an overview of each chapter. It should be a sourced document with footnotes, endnotes, and/or bibliography. Word count does not include footnotes, endnotes, or bibliography. This document should include the name of your project, but omit personally identifying information, such as your name and institution.
3. A timeline (1-2 pages) for completion of the dissertation, including information about progress to date. The timeline should indicate all milestones (completion of exams, proposal approval, etc.) that are relevant for your program/institution. This document should include the name of your project, but omit personally identifying information, such as your name and institution.
4. A sample chapter or excerpt (preferably not an introductory chapter reviewing the literature). This chapter or excerpt should be one that clearly represents or bolsters your overall thesis, and should not exceed 60 double-spaced pages in length.  This document should include the name of your project, but omit personally identifying information, such as your name and institution.
5. You must also arrange for a letter from the registrar or departmental Director of Graduate Studies, attesting to ABD (all-but-dissertation) status. This must be requested using the reference request feature included in the application form, so have your attestor's name and email handy when filling in the form. You may send this letter request at any time, even before you are ready to submit the application.

Note: Letters of recommendation, a curriculum vitae, and a bibliography are not required.

Important notes:

1. Applicants must submit items 1-4, above, in an anonymous form, i.e., without name or evidence of institutional affiliation in any document (including text, headers, footers, footnotes and document properties). Please be particularly careful not to name university-based sources of funding or other institutional information in the prospectus and timeline. 
2. Start your application process early. You may save an incomplete form and continue later.
3. You MUST click the 'Submit' button at the end of the form to submit your application. Applications not submitted by the deadline cannot be considered.
4. Upon submission of your application form you will receive an email confirmation. You may also check the status of your application by signing into your Submittable account and clicking "My Submissions". If you have any questions, please contact ams@amsmusicology.org.

Awards

AHJ AMS 50 Fellowships are awarded solely on the basis of academic merit. Fellows receive a twelve-month stipend, currently set at $25,000. They may also elect to accept the award on a non-stipendiary basis (thus freeing scarce resources for others). The fellowships are intended for full-time study. An equivalent major award from another source may not be held concurrently or consecutively unless the AMS award is accepted without a stipend. Fellowships are for one year and are not deferable or renewable; Fellows are expected to focus on completing their dissertations and not to undertake more than twenty (20) hours each week of paid or unpaid employment during the fellowship term. There are no provisions for the payment of tuition.

Fellows are selected in the spring and announced in the summer.