The World Studies Interdisciplinary Project (WSIP) is pleased to announce the names of​ ​UMass-Amherst faculty and graduate students from HFA and SBS chosen as WSIP​ ​Mellon Fellows for 2022-24. Supported by a grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation,​ ​the Fellows will collaboratively create a Decolonial Global Studies (DGS) Graduate​ ​Certificate Program, which has been a long-developing vision of WSIP co-directors​ ​Laura Doyle, Professor of English, and Mwangi wa Gĩthĩnji, Associate Professor of​ ​Economics. The interdisciplinary, co-taught courses of the Certificate will highlight the​ ​collective histories stricken from view by colonialist, androcentric narratives and they will​ ​center the perspectives and sustaining legacies that support justice struggles in the​ ​world today.

Selected through a competitive call for proposals, the Mellon Fellows represent ten departments in HFA and SBS, including four faculty teaching teams and ten PhD​ ​students. In 2022-23, Fellows will participate in a yearlong Reading and Rethinking​ ​seminar in which they will cultivate interdisciplinary thinking, learning, and teaching​ ​practices as they collaboratively design the DGS curriculum and courses. Courses will​ ​be piloted in 2023-24, and the Certificate will be launched officially in Fall 2024. The​ ​program will also include future PhD fellowships and short internships. To learn more,​ ​visit the WSIP Mellon Award for Grad Certificate Program and explore more of the World​ ​Studies Interdisciplinary Project (WSIP) website​.​


WSIP Faculty Mellon Fellows
Meghan Armstrong-Abrami – Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Adam Dahl – Political Science
Corine Tachtiris – Comparative Literature
Agustin Lao-Montes – Afro-American Studies and Sociology
Svati Shah – Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Katherine Moos – Economics

WSIP Full-year PhD Mellon Fellows
Sharanya Sridhar – English
José González – Afro-American Studies
Çağla Ay – Anthropology
Jarrel De Matas – English
Venus Green – Sociology
Mabrouka M’Barek – Sociology

WSIP Dissertation Mellon Fellows
Aaron Yates – Sociology
Victoria Bochniak – Anthropology
Thakshala Tissera – English