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About MMUF

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The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program (MMUF) of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is aimed at increasing faculty diversity by supporting underrepresented students to pursue careers as professors. Created in 1988, the MMUF program has a long and very successful history of identifying highly talented and gifted students, and supporting these future faculty members. In 2003, the Mellon Foundation reaffirmed its commitment and broadened the mission of the MMUF Program. The name of the program was changed  from the Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship Program to the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program to symbolically connect the mission to the stellar educational achievements of Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, former president of Morehouse College and mentor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Since 1988, the MMUF Program has engaged more than 4,000 students. As of 2023, 1,000 of those students already have earned Ph.D.’s, and the majority of them hold an appointment in the academy. The goal of the MMUF program is to identify and support underrepresented students, and others with a demonstrated commitment to diversity and equity, who are interested in earning a doctorate in the core fields of arts and sciences and becoming future faculty. See a list of eligible fields here.

The Claremont Colleges MMUF program selected the inaugural cohort of 10 sophomores in spring 2015, and has now grown to a cohort size of 20 juniors and seniors. MMUF Fellows are selected in the spring of their sophomore year.

The cohort-based MMUF Program provides academic and co-curricular support through close interaction with Faculty Research Mentors, weekly cohort meetings, selected workshops and programs, stipends for research and repayment of undergraduate loans up to $10,000. The MMUF program continues to support fellows during their graduate and postdoctoral careers through grants, close mentoring and training. You can learn more about the resources and opportunities at the graduate level here.