In recent years, it has become clear that the amounts offered by several of our many grant programs were not keeping up with the actual costs being incurred by grantees. In the summer of 2025, the Council requested that I assemble an Ad Hoc Committee on Grants & Fellowships to carefully review our current grant making programs and formulate a proposal that would 1) carefully consider how these programs serve the changing needs of our various constituencies; 2) increase the amounts of several grants while necessarily decreasing the number grants offered; and 3) do so without significantly adding to our annual non-restricted expenditures. The Committee was also tasked with codifying an Adjudication Policy.
The Ad Hoc Committee on Grants & Fellowships was comprised of former members of several of our adjudication committees: Joseph Ackley (Wesleyan Univ.); Richard Barton (Univ. of North Carolina, Greensboro); Cristina Maria Cervone (Univ. of Memphis); Sarah Davis-Secord (Univ. of New Mexico); and Craig Nakashian (Texas A&M Univ. – Texarkana). Their thoughtful proposal was approved by the Council at its quarterly meeting last week. I am extremely grateful to the Committee for their hard work and to the Council for their oversight. These changes will be implemented as of January 2027:
Funding for Students:
Annual Meeting Student Bursaries: three bursaries of $1,000 each (formerly 6-7 bursaries of $500 each);
Annual Meeting Best Student Paper Prize: one prize of $1,000 (formerly $500);
Birgit Baldwin Fellowship: one grant of $27,000 (formerly $20,000; this increase is entirely funded by a restricted bequest from the Estate of Jenny Jochens, Birgit Baldwin’s mother);
Dissertation Grants: four grants of $4,000 each (formerly nine grants of $2,000 each).
Funding for Non-Tenure-Track or Under-funded Medievalists:
Annual Meeting Inclusivity & Diversity Travel Grant: one grant of $1,000 (formerly $500);
Olivia Remie Constable Awards: two grants of $3,500 each (formerly four grants of $1,500 each);
Travel Grants: five grants of $1,500 each (formerly 6-7 grants of $500-$750 each).
For several grants, we have also made changes to the dossier components in order to lower barriers to submitting an application, in particular as regards the number of required recommendation letters. It is our hope that these changes will better serve our members in a changing funding landscape.
– Lisa
