The Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations (hereafter “Conference”) calls for applications for the Carlo Bellini Dissertation Fellowship. The deadline is January 31, 2021, the award will be for academic year 2021-2022.

The Fellowship is offered every second year to a doctoral student (e.g., D.M.L.; Ed.D.; Ph.D.) writing a dissertation on a topic pertinent to Italy and its relationship to any aspect of the Italian diaspora in the United States. The winner of the Fellowship will be awarded $5,000 for the one-year program.

Students enrolled in a doctoral degree program at a not-for-profit U.S. university recognized by any of the regional accreditation agencies are eligible. Applicable fields of study may include but are not limited to the following: anthropology, art history, cinema, history, linguistics, literature, pedagogy, psychology, sociology, etc. The winner of the Fellowship will be announced in the spring semester for the subsequent academic year. On completion of the program, the Fellow will deliver a lecture on his or her research before the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations and invited guests.

The Carlo Bellini Fellow will be chosen by the Conference’s Carlo Bellini Dissertation Fellowship Committee, with the assistance of outside evaluators. The Conference reserves the right not to award a fellowship in any given year. The Hon. Basil M. Russo, President of the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations stated, “Encouraging and supporting the scholarly exploration of the Italian American experience for the benefit of future generations is a priority of the Conference of Presidents.”

The Bellini Fellowship allows for doctoral students to be able to spend more time devoted to their research; on the other hand, it serves as a model for other organizations to dedicate scholarships to Italian-American studies at the doctoral level. In the end, it will facilitate the introduction of Italian-American studies into the college curriculum. At this juncture, only two universities offer such courses at the graduate level.

Founded by the Conference, the Carlo Bellini Dissertation Fellowship is named in honor of the first professor of Italian Studies in the United States. The Department of Modern Languages at the College of William & Mary enjoys the distinction of being the oldest modern languages program in the United States. The department traces its beginnings to the establishment of a professorship in modern languages at the College of William & Mary in a curriculum reform instituted by Thomas Jefferson in 1779. As a part of this reform, the College became a university, with schools in law, grammar, medicine, fine arts, and modern languages. The first professor of Modern Languages was Carlo Bellini, a native of Florence, Italy, and a close friend of Thomas Jefferson.

Click here for the application form. For further information, contact the Conference of Presidents of Major Italian American Organizations at the following email: it.am.presidents@gmail.com.