Pomona College is a member of the Consortium for Faculty Diversity, an association of small liberal arts college committed to creating a more inclusive academy by providing dissertation and post-doctoral fellowships to graduate students and recent PhDs.
As part of its commitment to the CFD, the college offers a two-year, pre- or postdoctoral fellowship to eligible applicants. Fellows receive a stipend, priority access to rent college housing (when available), and teach two classes each year. Fellows may also apply for internal funds for research, teaching and curriculum development, and conference participation.
The Chau Mellon Fellowship is only offered at Pomona and is made possible thanks to a generous donation by Fred and Dorothy Chau and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Chau Mellon Fellowships at Pomona are only available to certain departments at the college; please review the list of eligible disciplines below. If you wish to apply for the Chau Mellon at Pomona, you may use this link, Pomona (Employment).
Applicants in STEM fields or in disciplines not available at Pomona may apply directly on the CFD website, CFD for the Dissertation or Postdoctoral Fellowship.
The Fred and Dorothy Chau Mellon Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2025-2025
Eligibility
Applicants should contribute to increasing the diversity of member colleges in one or more of the following ways: Increasing their ethnic and racial diversity, maximizing the educational benefits of diversity and/or increasing the number of professors who can and will use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of students.
Applicants must be able to provide proof of the legal right to work in the United States as required by the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 for the duration of the fellowship, July 1, 2026 until June 30, 2028.
Postdoctoral applicants should have no more than five years of post-terminal degree teaching or relevant experience prior to the start of a fellowship.
Please address all recommendation letters to THE FELLOWSHIP SEARCH COMMITTEE
Selection Process at Pomona
At Pomona, Chau Mellon Fellows are nominated by departments. Department chairs are given access to the applications from both the Interfolio site, through CFD, and AJO, which Pomona manages separately.
Access to applications begin after December 1.
Chairs in the humanities and social sciences departments (please see qualifying list below) nominate candidate for consideration. Nominations are then reviewed by a committee who selects up to three finalists for campus visits. For the 2025-2027 Fellowship, Pomona College will host two Fellows. Departments who are able to provide the best mentoring, teaching, and research support will receive a Chau Mellon Fellow.
Eligible Disciplines (teaching and/or research):
- Africana Studies
- American Studies
- Anthropology
- Art
- Art History
- Asian American Studies
- Asian Studies
- Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies
- Chinese
- Classics
- Dance
- Economics
- English
- French
- Gender & Women’s Studies
- German
- History
- International Relations
- Japanese
- Late Antiquities-Medieval Studies
- Latin American Studies
- Linguistics
- Media Studies
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Music
- Philosophy
- Philosophy, Politics, Economics
- Politics
- Public Policy Analysis
- Religious Studies
- Russian
- Science, Technology & Society
- Sociology
- Spanish
- Theatre
How To Apply
If you teach or conduct research in a humanities or social science major offered at Pomona and wish to submit the application for the Chau Mellon Fellowship at Pomona, please submit through Academic Jobs Online.
Please note: department chairs will have access to both the Interfolio and AJO sites, but the Interfolio site includes everyone applying for a fellowship through the consortium. The AJO site will be specific to Pomona.
Past Chau Mellon Fellows
Before 1999-2000, the program was called Minority-Scholar-In-Residence.
1993-1994 Phyllis Jackson, Art History
1999-2000 Jennifer Ting, English
2000-2001 Tamar Gollan, Linguistics and Cognitive Science
2001-2002 Hung Cam Thai, Sociology and Asian American Studies
2001-2002 Susette Min, English and Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies
2002-2003 April Mayes, History
2002-2005 Robert Thornton, Linguistics and Cognitive Science
2003-2005 Nanette Barkey, Anthropology
2004-2006 Boris Ricks, Political Science
2005-2007 Suheir Abu Oksa Daoud, Political Science, International Relations
2006-2008 James Córdova, Latin American Art and Art History
2006-2008 Angelina Chin, History
2007-2011 Marie Shurkus, Art and Art History
2008-2011 Joyce Lu, Theater
2011 Riley Snorton, Media Studies
2011-2013 Anna Joo Kim, Environmental Analysis
2012-2013 Oluwakemi (Kemi) Balogun, Sociology
2014-2015 Sasha Mae Eccleston, Classics
2014-2015 Hentyle Yapp, Gender and Women’s Studies,
2015-2016 Laura Orrico, Sociology
2016-2017 Nicole Holliday, Linguistics and Cognitive Science
2016-2018 Joanne Nucho, Anthropology
2017-2019 Sheetal Gandhi, Theater and Dance
2018-2020 Cristina Bejarano, Anthropology
2019-2021 Rosalia Romero, Art History
2020-2022 M. Bilal Nasir, Intercollegiate Department Asian American Studies
2021-2023 Nikia Smith-Robert, Religious Studies
2022-2024 Omer Shah, Anthropology
2023-2025 Ernesto Gutierrez Topete, Linguistics and Cognitive Science
2024-2026, Magaly “Maga” Miranda, Chicana/o-Latina/o Studies