Student Fellowships

1.  Summer fellowships. A fulltime summer fellowship is defined as 35 hours/week for up to 8 weeks. A student in a full-time summer fellowship cannot accept any other summer fellowship from the college. If a student is in a fellowship that is shorter than 8 weeks, they may accept a second fellowship as long as the total time between all fellowships is no more than 10 weeks, and they do not exceed 35 hours in any given week. During the course of a fulltime summer fellowship, a student may not hold other substantial employment or be enrolled in a summer course, as it will not allow them to engage fully in the fellowship activity.

2.  Academic-year fellowships. Academic year fellowships can span fall, spring, or both semesters and can vary in hours/week but should not exceed 15 hours per week.

3.  Foundation credit. Fellows can fulfill the F11 requirements provided they complete 138 hours of fellowship work and submit the necessary F11 application and contract to The Registrar.

4.  On-campus housing. Support for on-campus summer housing can be requested for the duration of the fellowship.

To learn more and apply for a fellowship, please click on the descriptions below.

 If you have any questions, contact the Associate Director of the Turley Memphis Center, Jessica Cowan (cowanj@rhodes.edu). 

The City of Memphis Housing and Community Development Fellowship is funded by the City of Memphis Division of Housing and Community Development and offers funding for student interns to provide research, data analysis, and project assistance  related to housing and community development to Memphis-based organizations.

City Fellows have used this funding to work at the Wellness and Stress Clinic of Memphis, BRIDGES USA Inc., Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Caritas Village, Just City, and Memphis River Parks Partnership. Proposals are accepted on a rolling basis and students are encouraged to reach out with questions early in the semester. Applications should be submitted using the online Fellowship Application. For more information and to discuss eligibility and requirements, contact Jessica Cowan, Associate Director of the Turley Memphis Center, at cowanj@rhodes.edu.

Applications for the Summer 2026 and Academic Year 2026-2027 are due Feb. 15th.

The F. Elaine Donelson Fellowship Program in Psychology allows students to pursue meaningful engagement in developmental opportunities beyond the classroom. This work can include research work under the guidance of a faculty mentor, participation in an internship, or participation in another opportunity connected to the student’s professional development. Students interested in applying for a Donelson Fellowship should speak with their psychology faculty mentor or the Chair of the Psychology Department, Dr. Matthew Weeks (weeksm@rhodes.edu) early in the spring semester (before February 15 application deadline).

Students with an interest and past involvement in ministry and/or social issues through a social justice lens can apply for the Hatzenbuehler Fellowship. Social justice may include working toward equality for individuals and groups (e.g., in terms of gender, race or human sexuality) or larger community and world issues (e.g., homelessness, poverty, multi-cultural understanding, religious or ethnic tolerance, environmental or health care concerns). Applications received by February 15 will be given priority for funding. Applications should be submitted using the online Fellowship Application. However, applicants should also contact Jessica Cowan, (cowanj@rhodes.edu), Associate Director of the Turley Memphis Center, for a copy of additional questions that must be submitted with this application.

Funding from Trustee Lainoff provides the opportunity to participate in experiential learning projects in various disciplines, with preference given to students majoring in English. Students may propose their own fellowship as long as the fellowship is not faith based, scientific, or politically or socially conservative. Applications for the Summer 2026 and Academic Year 2026-2027 are due Feb. 15th. Applications should be submitted using the online Fellowship Application. Applicants should also contact Jessica Cowan (cowanj@rhodes.edu), Associate Director of the Turley Memphis Center, to indicate their interest in applying for a Lainoff Fellowship.

The Mike Curb Institute provides real-world musical experiences in Memphis that link to their studies on campus. Work in a variety of areas, including audio/video production, PR/Marketing, Research and Preservation, and Community Engagement. 

Students interested in pursuing a Curb Fellowship should contact Prof. John Bass (bassj@rhodes.edu), and are highly encouraged to take the Music and Community in Memphis course (URBN 262).

The Rhodes Impact Summer Experience is an intensive eight-week paid summer experience that challenges students to engage in an impactful internship while receiving F11 credit. Students choose a nonprofit within the greater Memphis community, and spend the summer working as an intern with that nonprofit. 

The internship program commitment is 40 hours a week: on average 35 hours per week are devoted to a local nonprofit and 5 hours per week are devoted to group programming. Fellows are paid $3,520 ($11.00 an hour) and campus housing is provided in one of the campus residence halls (note: Fellows are not required to live on campus). Fellows may not hold another job or attend summer school so that participants have time and energy to fully engage in the experience.

For more information and to access the Rhodes Impact Summer Fellowship application, visit the Rhodes Impact Summer Fellowship site. The deadline to apply is February 26. Please contact the Center for Career and Professional Development for questions.

The Rhodes Institute for Regional Studies (RIRS) is an 8-week summer program that allows students of any major to study a research topic or creative activity of any discipline through the regional lens of Memphis and the greater Mid-South Area. Contact Prof. Charles McKinney; the deadline for application proposals is February 15; applications received by February 1 will be given priority for funding. Please see updated RIRS Application Guidelines.

This fellowship provides an opportunity for students with an interest in the neurosciences to gain extensive research experience at the Neuroscience Institute/Center of Excellence at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, located just 10 minutes from the Rhodes campus.

Students must commit to one summer (10 weeks) of full-time work with pay, as well as 8 hours per week during the academic year (2 course credits per semester). They will engage in a project that culminates in a formal research report, and students will be required to present their work at regional and/or national meetings. Students may have the opportunity to extend their fellowship for a second summer.

This fellowship is available for students who are rising sophomores (currently first year) and rising juniors (currently second years) . A campus housing option will be provided with the fellowship during the summer.

Read the instructions to prepare your application in advance (you will not be able to save your application as you go). 

Applications are currently closed; the next selection cycle will be Fall 2026.

For more information on the UT/Rhodes Neuroscience Fellowship, details on the application process, and application due dates, please contact Dr. Becky Klatzkin at klatzkinr@rhodes.edu.

Awarded to five students each semester, the Buckman Fellowship for Study Abroad supports outstanding students from any academic discipline for a semester or an academic year on study abroad. The fellowship is for $10,000; applicants supply a letter of interest and two faculty letters of recommendation. Upon return to Rhodes, the fellows present their Buckman Project, an individualized presentation intended to explore the student’s interpretations of the host culture and/or the student’s academic interests as impacted by their time abroad. Past fellows have studied neuroscience in Copenhagen, Latin American studies in Buenos Aires, and international studies in Seoul, to name a few. Deadlines are March 15 and October 15. For more information and to apply, please visit the Buckman Center for International Education.

The Ruyl Family Fellowship in Global History was established by Marci McTier to allow a rising junior or senior History Major to pursue a self-designed summer research project on any aspect of global history, broadly defined.

Global history takes the connectedness of the world as its point of departure and examines broad processes of historical change. Political borders often define the parameters of historical research. Yet many subjects transcend state boundaries, ranging from imperialism, industrialization, migration, medicine, slavery, war, religion, labor and commerce, gender and sexuality, science and technology, animals and the environment, or popular culture to name just a few. A global approach explores interconnections, interdependencies, and interruptions across multiple scales to determine how such broad processes of historical change have shaped today’s interlinked societies.

Learn more and apply for the the Ruyl Family Fellowship. The priority deadline for applications is Feb 15, 2026.

Rhodes and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have partnered to offer qualified Rhodes students an intensive research experience that pairs students with St. Jude scientists and places them into St. Jude’s laboratories for a period of two summers and the intervening academic year. Through this experience, students become fully engaged citizens in the scientific community of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, a world-class pediatric clinical and research facility focusing on cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Read more about the St. Jude Summer Plus Fellowship.

Students must commit to two summers (10 weeks/summer, full-time with pay) as well as 10 hours per week during the academic year (2 course credits per semester plus F11 credit). They will engage in a project that culminates in a formal research report, and students will be required to present their work at a local, regional or national meeting. 

This fellowship is available for students following rising sophomores (currently first year) and rising juniors (currently second years). Preference will be given to students with demonstrated academic success and prior research experience or relevant laboratory coursework.  A campus housing option will be provided with the fellowship during the summers. 

Application instructions: read this to prepare your application in advance.

Evaluations are due on December 2nd. For more information on the St. Jude Summer Plus Fellowship, details on the application process, and application due dates, please contact Dr. Mary Miller (millerm@rhodes.edu).

Applications are currently closed; the next selection cycle will be Fall 2026.

Fellowships may be designed by students or by faculty/staff who wish to mentor student fellows. The fellowship experience should complement and broaden the student's program of liberal arts education. This may be accomplished through a variety of experiences, including application of knowledge to a novel problem and/or investigation of a research question, community engagement, making connections between/among different disciplines or programs of study, specific career preparation and/or professional development, training for graduate or professional school, engagement across differences (through contact with people with different ideas, backgrounds, and experiences), and/or leadership development.

Applications for the Summer 2026 and Academic Year 2026-2027 are due Feb. 15th. Applications should be submitted using the online Fellowship Application.

Contact Jessica Cowan, Associate Director of The Turley Memphis Center, for more information.

The Sternberg Family Fellowship in American History was established through the estate of Irma O. Sternberg to allow a rising junior or senior History Major to pursue a self-designed summer research project on American history, as the project relates to the Irma O. Sternberg Overton Park Expressway Collection, broadly defined.

Irma O. Sternberg (1915-2007) was a Memphis activist and member of the advocacy group, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, who worked to keep Interstate 40 from being built through the center of Overton Park. Litigation led to a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402 (1971), which ruled in favor of the grassroots organization and halted construction of the expressway.

Learn more and apply for the Sternberg Family Fellowship. The priority deadline for applications is Feb 15, 2026.

The Turley Memphis Fellowship, housed in The Lynne & Henry Turley Memphis Center for Community Engagement, is an opportunity for Rhodes students to promote positive, lasting social change in Memphis. Turley Fellows build leadership, critical thinking, and collaboration skills as they develop and implement initiatives that cultivate community. In collaboration with community partners, fellows will design and implement initiatives that fall under one of the following areas: Arts & Social Change, Neighborhood & Community Development, Urban Education, or Youth Empowerment & Justice. Students may also propose their own area, addressing issues of public concern. Fellows are expected to work 10-15 hours per week with a community partner in Memphis/Mid-South. Fellows will also conduct research, make site visits, participate in community activities, gain field experience, attend cohort meetings, and make public presentations. Applications received by February 15 will be given priority for funding. Applications should be submitted using the online Fellowship Application. Please contact Jessica Cowan, Associate Director of the Turley Memphis Center, for more information.

Writing Fellows serve as tutors in the college's Writing Center and may be assigned as a mentor and assistant to a First-Year Writing Seminar. Fellows must complete their application, including the faculty recommendation, by February 15. Fellowships are for the following academic year. Fellows also enroll in a 2 or 4-credit training course in the fall semester. Contact Dr. Rebecca Finlayson. Apply for the Writing Fellowship.