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Graduate writing fellows.

Elena Adasheva-Klein

Elena is a PhD Candidate in Sociocultural Anthropology with a focus on environmental humanities. Her research combines phenomenological concepts with ethnographic research and writing to explore human experiences in the Arctic environment. Her extensive background in international and intercultural communication makes her well-suited to addressing the challenges of international and multilingual students. She has also contributed as a peer reviewer for academic and student journals and served as a Teaching Fellow at Yale. Elena has a strong interest in incorporating ethnographic and creative non-fiction writing into scholarly texts. As a GWL Fellow, she is committed to assisting students with their academic writing and developing strategies for analyzing and critically responding to diverse types of literature and visual sources.

Ryan Adelsheim

Ryan Adelsheim is a doctoral candidate in Dramaturgy & Dramatic Criticism at the School of Drama. Their research focuses on contemporary queer and trans performance and the archive. Ryan is the associate editor for Theater Magazine and has served as a conference dramaturg for the New Harmony Project and on pieces including their co-adaptation of Sarah Waters’ AFFINITY, among others. Before coming to Yale, Ryan freelanced as a new play dramaturg and editor and produced for theater companies including Steppenwolf, Baltimore Center Stage, 2nd Story, and Victory Gardens Theater. Ryan received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and is thrilled to work with academic and creative writers in the humanities at all stages of their work!

Akshat Agarwal

Akshat Agarwal is a doctoral (J.S.D.) student at Yale Law School. His current work focuses on the changing law of parenthood and its implications for the recognition of non-traditional families. Before coming to Yale, he practiced law in India and worked in the non-profit/development sector. He holds a master of law from Yale and a bachelor of arts and law from the National Law School in Bengaluru. He has experience in academic writing, abstracts, research agendas, applications, and research proposals. He looks forward to helping students in all stages of their work.

Anjali Agrawala

Anjali is a third year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science. Her research focuses on developing noninvasive wearable sensors for understanding and monitoring human motion patterns in everyday settings. Before coming to Yale, she completed her B.S. in biomedical engineering with a minor in materials science and engineering at Boston University. Anjali has experience writing scientific manuscripts and fellowship applications and is a NSF GRFP fellow.  She looks forward to helping students at any stage in their academic writing.

Kamil Ahsan

Kamil Ahsan is a 5th-year doctoral student in history at Yale University, with a prior doctorate in biology from the University of Chicago. His current work focuses on the intellectual histories of “reef” ontologies in peripheral reef regions, specifically Sri Lanka, Belize, and the Gulf of Mexico. Working at the intersection of environmental, intellectual, energy, and labor history, his work is an attempt to understand how ways of seeing reefs formed and commodified across the 20th century to the present. He is also a writer and critic. He is the Editor of South Asian Avant-Garde, and his work has appeared in NPR, The Nation, the L.A. Review of Books, Dissent, the Boston-Globe, and The Baffler, among others.

Shubhashree Basnyat

Shubi is a 3rd year PhD student in English. Her research focuses on novels about environmental illness in the postcolonial tropics. She received an MA in Postcolonial Studies from SOAS, University of London and a BA from Williams College. She is enthusiastic about working with other students on their writing goals, and welcomes them to consult with her at any stage of their writing process,  from brainstorming ideas to editing final drafts.

Shoham Benmelech

Shoham is a third year PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering department. Her research focuses on maternal immunity during pregnancy and mechanobiology. Prior to Yale, she completed her Sc.B in biomedical engineering at Brown and worked as a clinical lab researcher at NYU Langone. Shoham is an NSF GRFP fellow and excited about working with graduate students on their scientific writing. 

Kate Birkbeck

Kate is a 5th year PhD Candidate in the History Department. Her research focuses on the arms trade and gun clubs in the British and American Empires. She holds a BA in History from University College London and an MPhil in History from the University of Cambridge. Kate has experience giving feedback on a wide range of writing projects and particularly enjoys offering folks a place to share their early-stage work in a low-stakes environment.

Elizabeth Black

Elizabeth is a 6th year PhD candidate in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry Department. The goal of her current work is to define noncanonical roles for DNA damage repair proteins in cell division. Before starting at Yale, she received a B.S. in Biology from Wake Forest University. She is has experience preparing NIH and NSF fellowship applications, and is excited to help others refine their work and grow as writers.

Ruthie Block

Ruthie is a 2nd year PhD student in English and African American Studies. A graduate fellow at the Yale Center for the Study of Race, Indigeneity, and Transnational Migration (RITM), Ruthie studies histories of Black print culture, with a focus on Black feminist literature, archival practice and book history. Prior to starting graduate school, they worked in the editorial department at Beacon Press. With experience supporting writing projects for both academic and public audiences,  Ruthie is eager to collaborate with students toward a wide range of goals. They are especially excited to support interdisciplinary work and creative writing projects.

Candace Borders

Candace is a 6th year PhD Candidate in American Studies and African American Studies. She received her BA in American Culture Studies at Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. Her work centers around the intersections of race, gender, class, and public housing in urban centers in the mid-20th century, specifically in St. Louis, Missouri. As an arts educator and curator, she has worked at the Yale University Art Gallery, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and is the inaugural Community Curator at the Washington University in St. Louis Special Collections. She enjoys supporting students as they translate their ideas and research into writing.

Nicole Cosme

Nicole is a fourth year PhD candidate in the Music Department and a consultant for the Yale Digital Humanities Lab. Her research aims to understand how artificial intelligence technologies influence contemporary music making, music listening, and music scholarship. Before starting at Yale, Nicole earned an M.A. in Music Theory from CUNY Queens College and a B.A. in Music from Stony Brook University. She looks forward to supporting fellow students on all types of writing projects, especially those that engage interdisciplinary topics.

Jess (she/her) is a fourth year PhD student in the History Department. She researches the Latin American and Caribbean Right, cultures of reactionary exile violence and its many economic and political connections to Miami, Florida. She was born and raised in Hialeah, Florida and is a First Generation, Low Income Student (FGLI). Jess graduated with a BA in both History and Spanish & Latin American Cultures from Barnard College in 2020. She is passionate about making any step in your research and/or writing process one that centers engaging with readers and audiences outside of academia and/or outside of your field or discipline. Jess enjoys helping students work through writing out their research on social media platforms or through other public-facing mediums like podcast scripts for example. She looks forward to supporting students at any stage of their writing including brainstorming ideas! Please feel free to reach out to her at jess.cruz@yale.edu if you have any questions.

Shefali Das

Shefali Das is a 2nd year Ph.D. student in African American Studies and Sociology. Her research focuses on racial capitalism, economic state violence, and neoliberalism. She holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in African American Studies and Political Economy. Shefali loves the writing process, and always looks forward to editing hers and her friends’ work, in any capacity – from op-eds to academic research, creative writing to poetry, the process of writing is something that she is deeply passionate about. She is so excited to work together, and really looks forward to reading your work!

Taryn Dubois

Taryn Dubois is a 6th year PhD student in the department of music. Her research on nineteenth-century Italian ballets sits at the intersection of musicology, dance history, and opera studies, uncovering unexpected connections between theatrical dance with industrialization, sport, and technology. She holds an MA from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance from Brandon University. She looks forward to another semester of writerly and scholarly conversations with other graduate students through the GWL.

Breeanna Elliott

Breeanna is a fifth-year doctoral student in the History of Science and Medicine Program. She received her A.B. in History and African and African American Studies from Harvard College and earned her teacher licensure from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2015. Her doctoral research emphasizes the role of ancestral spirits in histories of regional pharmacopeia and bioprospecting by recognizing them as active and independent political agents in the cross-cultural negotiations of health, healing, and illness in the Western Indian Ocean. Her methodologies include ethnography, archival research, oral history, and ethnobotany, and she works across the disciplines of anthropology, history, and science and technology studies. She is eager to work with writers at all stages in their academic writing, with a special interest in grant and fellowship applications.

Alana Felton

Alana Felton is a 5th-year PhD student in Slavic Languages and Literatures. Her research focuses on contemporary Belarusian technologically mediated protest art and culture. Alana has extensive experience advising students writing fellowship application essays and has worked for the Yale Fellowships office for several years. She also enjoys reading and discussing dissertation chapters and academic articles, but is happy to provide feedback on any kind of writing! Alana previously worked as an Acquisitions Editor and copy editor at Academic Studies Press, an independent academic press and is passionate about helping young academics publish. During the 2024–25 academic year, she will be in Europe on a Fulbright Schuman Scholarship, working on her dissertation. Prior to coming to Yale, Alana was a Fulbright ETA in Viciebsk, Belarus in 2018–19 after getting her BA in Slavic Studies from Brown University in 2018.

Aida is a 6th year doctoral candidate in the German department, where she explores the relationship between description and human experience in 20th century literature and philosophy. Alongside her dissertation, she enjoys working on projects related to history of science, ecocriticism, critical theory, and cultural studies. Aida holds degrees in Biology and German Studies from Brown University and worked as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Germany before arriving at Yale. As a GWL Fellow, she looks forward to helping other graduate students develop and articulate their ideas in a variety of academic and professional settings.

Manny Flores

Manuel is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Yale School of the Environment. His research is focused on secondary forest regeneration in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.  He has an undergraduate degree in Ecological Restoration and Forestry from Texas A&M University and a master’s degree in plant biology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Manuel has experience in academic writing such as grant writing and scientific publications and he enjoys helping people develop their applications for graduate programs and grants. 

Sara Gelles-Watnick

Sara Gelles-Watnick is a 5th year PhD candidate in the Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry (MB&B) department and is a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA F31 predoctoral fellow. She performs research on the molecular mechanism of herpesvirus encapsidation. Sara earned a dual BS/MS degree from Brandeis University. She has experience writing and giving feedback on qualifying exam proposals, research manuscripts, review articles, and fellowship applications. She enjoys collaborating with and supporting trainees throughout their writing processes.

Elizabeth Keto

Elizabeth Keto is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the History of Art. Her research focuses on the art and material culture of the Reconstruction era in the United States South. Elizabeth graduated summa cum laude from Harvard College (2018) with a degree in History of Art and Architecture. She was the recipient of a 2018 Marshall Scholarship, and she holds master’s degrees in the history of art and in curating from The Courtauld Institute of Art in London. She looks forward to working with students on all types of writing projects in the humanities, as well as fellowship applications.

Alison Kibbe

Alison Kibbe is a 7th-year PhD candidate in American Studies and African American Studies. Her research focuses on Black mobility and cultural production in the Caribbean and the Americas, particularly on the relationship between Black migration and the corporation plantation in the early 20th-century Caribbean. Her methods include family history, oral history, ethnography, food studies, and performance studies.  Alison is passionate about supporting writers in building their own personalized writers toolkits and strategies. She helps writers achieve clarity and access their creativity (yes, it is possible within academic formats!) by exploring and experimenting with strategies that break writing projects into a series of practices. As someone with ADHD, she embraces a neuro-inclusive approach that honors the varied ways we process and communicate information. She also has a passion for working with multi-lingual writers. She has taught undergraduate writing courses and coached writers at the Yale College Writing Center. Before coming to Yale, Alison worked as an independent artist, producer, and cultural organizer. She holds a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

Jennifer Kroeger

Jennifer is a 4th year Ph.D. student in the School of the Environment and Center for Industrial Ecology. Her research focuses on utilizing life cycle assessment to characterize carbon removal strategies, primarily enhanced weathering. Before coming to Yale, Jennifer received her B.A. at Rice University in Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and worked as a Baccalaureate Fellow at the Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.. She has experience in academic and non-academic writing and communication, and looks forward to working with fellow graduate students on a variety of writing projects. Jennifer is also a recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, and would be happy to help others with their applications!

Mara Kushelman

Mara is a third-year PhD student in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis. Her research focuses on investigating the host-vector-pathogen interface, with a particular emphasis on the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Before coming to Yale, she completed her B.S. and M.S. in Biochemistry at Virginia Tech. She is excited to help students at any stage of their writing process, from planning to refining.

Eva Landsberg

Eva is a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in History. Her research explores colonial British America and the wider early modern Atlantic World, with a focus on political economy. She is also interested in the integration of network analysis, spatial analysis, and other digital methodologies in humanities projects. Eva received her B.A. in History from Yale College in 2017. Before returning to New Haven for graduate studies, she worked as an education policy researcher and freelance editor. She looks forward to supporting humanities and social science students at any stage in the writing process.

Joseph (Sang Wuk) Lee is a fifth year PhD student in Religious Studies (within Early Mediterranean and West Asian Religions or EMWAR) and a Yale Divinity School graduate (MDiv). Their/his dissertation looks at Christian heresy-writers in the ancient Mediterranean from the perspective of ethnography, monsters, and disability/crip. Joseph is open to meeting students from all backgrounds and disciplines and discussing their work. Consultations with Joseph aim to be friendly, open-minded, and confidential.

Jacqueline Ly

Jacqueline Ly is a 7th year PhD candidate in the History department. Her research focuses on eighteenth-century Belize. She holds a M.A./M.Sc. in International/World History from Columbia University and the London School of Economics and a B.A. from New York University. She enjoys talking and commiserating about writing at all stages of the process, but she particularly likes to work with writers on brainstorming. Jacqueline has experience working with writers on artist statements, diversity statements, dissertation chapters, and dissertation abstracts.

Susanna Maisto

Susanna Maisto is a 4th year PhD candidate in the department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering. Her research focuses on developing novel techniques for removing toxic emerging contaminants from drinking water. She received her B.S. in chemistry from the College of William and Mary. Before starting at Yale, she spent a year as a researcher at the National Institutes of Health. She enjoys helping students clearly communicate interdisciplinary research to broad audiences.

Anne Mishkind

Anne is a doctoral candidate in the Political Science department with a focus on political theory. Her research examines contestation over identity, political ideology, and American values through the lens of 20th century U.S. educational discourse and policy. She holds an M.Phil. in Political Thought and Intellectual History from the University of Cambridge, and a B.A. in Philosophy from the Gallatin School at NYU.

Jeania Ree Moore

Jeania Ree Moore is a 5th year Ph.D. candidate in African American Studies and Religious Studies. Her research uses religion and theology to analyze a range of intersections and interests in African American history and culture, most recently romance novels. She holds an M.Phil. in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, an M.Div. from Emory University as a Woodruff Scholar, and a B.A. in Humanities from Yale. Prior to returning to Yale for doctoral studies, Jeania Ree worked in legislative advocacy in Washington, D.C., where she was also a contributing writer for Sojourners magazine and authored a bimonthly column. Jeania Ree has experience with writing for academic and public audiences, and enjoys working with students on various projects – research paper, cover letter, sermon, fellowship application, op-ed, and more.

Jacob Morrow-Spitzer

Jacob Morrow-Spitzer is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of History, and is also an affiliate of Yale’s Jewish Studies Program. His research focuses on the intersection between modern Jewish history, American race, and political history. He received his B.A. in History and Jewish Studies from Tulane University, and worked as a peer tutor at the Tulane Academic Success Center throughout his undergraduate years. Before starting at Yale, he worked in the non-profit and public-facing research world. Jacob has experience editing personal statements, journal articles, conference talks, fellowship applications, book reviews, public-facing scholarship, encyclopedia entries, and many, many course papers.

Layla Nassar

Layla Nassar is a sixth-year PhD student in the Department of Cell Biology. Her research investigates why a subcellular organelle called the lysosome moves and how lysosome movement is related to the metabolism of specific amino acids. Layla holds a MPhil from Yale University in Cell Biology as well as a BS in Neuroscience and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology from University of Miami. She is a recipient of a 2018 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. One of Layla’s greatest joys since starting her PhD has been in communicating research through writing, and she hopes to help others find the magic in meeting their writing goals.

Kevin Pataroque

Kevin is a 4th year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on transport phenomena in ultrahigh pressure reverse osmosis, an emerging desalination technology for brine management applications. He holds an M.S. in Environmental Engineering at Yale University, along with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a B.A. in English at Case Western Reserve University. He is an National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipient and has previously worked as a science writer and editor for the CWRU Observer. Kevin has written for both academic and public audiences, and is eager to help writers in the sciences develop their ideas.

Yanixa Quinones Aviles

Yanixa is a 6th year PhD student in Genetics and a recipient of a NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA F31 pre-doctoral fellowship. Her thesis work focuses on dissecting molecular and phenotypical differences of KRAS variants in cancer. Yanixa obtained her BS in Biology with an emphasis in Genetics and Biomedicine from the University of Puerto Rico in Aguadilla. As a GWL Fellow, she is eager to help fellow graduate students develop their grantsmanship and science communication skills.

Naila Razzaq

Naila is a PhD cadidate in Religious Studies, with a specialization in ancient Judaism and Late Antiquity. Her research centers on the intersection of historiography, exegesis and ancient language politics during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods. She is interested in competing conceptions of primeval language, ancient idenity construction, and the transmission and reception of ideas and texts beyond antiquity. She also seeks to bring the field of biblical and early Jewish studies in conversation with late antiquity and early Islam. She received her MA in ancient Judaism from Yale Divinity School and her BA in Near Eastern History from the University of Connecticut. She has experience working with various genres and is excited to assist students with any writing projects at any stage for academic or general audiences in the Humanities and social sciences.

Alison Robey

Alison is a fourth-year PhD candidate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. Her research focuses on using ecological theory to study how interactions between environmental stressors, thermal tolerance, and temperature regimes shape extinction, persistence, and evolution. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies and Mathematics from Williams College and works as a freelance writer in science communication. Alison particularly enjoys helping others frame their ideas in engaging ways and clarify their writing style to most effectively get their messages across.

Chetana Sabnis

Chetana is a fourth year student in the Political Science department. She is broadly interested in state formation processes, gender and sexuality politics and political violence. Her research project looks at various states’ gender ideologies and their association with enforced hierarchies of different sexual relations (e.g. marriage, relations involving “sex workers”, same-sex relations, etc.). Her work draws insights from various disciplines, ranging from anthropology to economics. Outside of research, she enjoys reading contemporary fiction and watching mindless TV shows. As a Fellow, she is excited to work with graduates on their writing projects, and help them discover their writing styles.

Zili Shen is a fifth year Ph.D. student in Astronomy. Her research focuses on faint and diffuse galaxies. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a BSA in physics and astronomy and a certificate in the philosophy of science. She has multiple first-author peer-reviewed scientific articles and has won prizes for conference talks and presentations. She was the third place winner of the 2023 Yale Three-Minute Thesis competition. Zili is an author for the astronomy blog Astrobites, and she is a speaker for Astronomy on Tap. She looks forward to working with students on scientific writing.

Sydney Shuster

Sydney is a fourth-year Ph.D. student in Chemistry. Her work focuses on label-free imaging techniques such as vibrational microscopy with an aim to understand how cells adapt their metabolism and proteins to stress and disease. She holds a B.A. in Chemistry from Middlebury College and spent two years as a research fellow at the National Institutes of Health after graduation. Sydney excels in writing scientific papers and grants, and she enjoys assisting students in finding their writing voice in the sciences. Outside of academics, she is an avid hiker and U.S. National Park enthusiast, having explored 26 parks so far.

Chloe Smith

Chloe Smith is a fourth year PhD candidate in Music History. Her research focuses on folk and popular music in the U.S. South, and her dissertation considers sound and musical performance as dimensions of Confederate Civil War memory. She holds an M.A. in Music History from Yale University and a B.A. in History and Music (violin) from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Chloe has experience with both academic and public-facing writing, and she is excited to collaborate with students at all stages of the writing process. Some of her favorite writing consultations include brainstorming outlines and workshopping rough drafts. She looks forward to helping graduate students shape their writing voices and clearly communicate their arguments to any audience.

Alan Mendoza Sosa

Alan Mendoza Sosa is a 2nd Year PhD Student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. His research interests are on Mexican and Latin American literary, film, and cultural studies; queer studies, postcolonial and decolonial theory, Latinx literature, translation, and poetry. He holds a BA in Comparative Literature from Brown University and a Master’s from The University of Cambridge. He has 5+ years of experience as writing fellow for high-school, college, graduate, and professional students, and is passionate about empowering diverse individuals to become confident and effective writers.

Adora Svitak

Adora Svitak is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the joint program in Sociology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Yale University. She is interested in gender, power, and intimate life. For her dissertation, she conducts qualitative research on US elites’ romantic relationships. Prior to Yale, she worked in communications for the non-profit that operates Wikipedia. She received her B.A. from UC Berkeley, majoring in Development Studies and minoring in South Asian Studies and Creative Writing. Because of her experience with public writing, she is particularly excited to work with students on ideas to reach audiences outside of academia.

Sofia Tieze

Sofia is a 6th year Ph.D. candidate in the Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program. She is currently investigating the molecular mechanisms of Batten Disease, a devastating form of pediatric neurodegeneration. Before beginning her studies at Yale, Sofia earned a BSc in Biology from Haverford College and worked at NASA on the BioSentinel Mission. Sofia enjoys working with students on scientific manuscripts, fellowship applications, and personal statements. She is as passionate about reading good fiction as she is about writing for the sciences.

Samantha Tracy

Samantha is a 3rd year PhD student at the Yale School of Environment. Her research focuses on stress hormone response and the developmental plasticity of amphibians in response to climate change. She holds a Masters of Environmental Health from Harvard University and a Bachelors in Biology and Psychology from UNC Charlotte. Samantha has experience working with scientific communication to non-science audiences and working on grant and admissions essays, including the Fulbright grant. She enjoys helping students find their original writing voice and focuses on clear and concise writing.

Minh is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in American Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies with a Graduate Certificate in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration. Their research examines everyday material cultures of discard, decay, and decomposition amidst the ongoing aftermaths of U.S. empire and war. They hold bachelor’s degrees in English and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Yale University. Across consultations, workshops, and peer-review groups, Minh enjoys  learning with and from colleagues in the humanities, working with them on whatever piece of writing at whatever stage of the process.

Ciru Wainaina

Ciru is a 5th year PhD Candidate in the English department. Her research considers meter in West Indian poetry at midcentury. Largely, she delights in the humor and mischief of several women poets. She is familiar with a broad range of critical theory, literary and otherwise. Moreover, Ciru is a dedicated peer reviewer and editor with a firm grasp of the elements of good, clear writing.

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Fellowships and funding.

All doctoral students in English receive six years of fellowship support from Yale. Normally, fellowships provide both tuition and a stipend for the first two years, when coursework is undertaken. In three of the remaining four years, students receive the same amount of aid while teaching or pursuing semester-long Graduate Professional Experiences. Students in the humanities receive University Dissertation Fellowships in their fifth or sixth year of study, which allow for two semesters of full-time dissertation research and writing. Students who elect in Year Three to pursue the MPhil instead of the PhD are entitled to one semester of fellowship funding to complete their MPhil capstone projects, to be taken in their sixth or seventh semester. For additional information, please consult the Yale University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Programs and Policies Bulletin .

Students in the English Ph.D. program typically apply for a Summer Language Institute Fellowship for language study following the first year; there are separate applications for courses taken at Yale and outside Yale. Detailed information and the application for both these fellowships are available from the Yale Student Grants & Fellowships Database .

Students advance to candidacy in their third year when a dissertation prospectus is submitted and approved. For students at the dissertation stage, several fellowship and grant opportunities exist both within the University and outside it to support the pursuit of dissertation research. Within Yale, for example, the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscripts Library provides generous fellowships for the support of dissertation research in its wide-ranging and rich collections, and the Lewis Walpole Library offers fellowships for students and other scholars to pursue research in its 18th-century collection. The Graduate School offers information and guidance about applying for research grants from external sources to students pursuing dissertation work. In addition, the Graduate School maintains two general funds of its own that provide support for students in the summers of their dissertation years: John F. Enders Fellowships and Research Grants, and the John Perry Miller Fund.

Refer to the Graduate School website for information on further funding opportunities.

Fellowships

T HE YALE REVIEW IS A HOME for Yale University students interested in learning about public writing, editing, and publishing. Through our student programs, Yale undergraduate and graduate students receive in-depth training in key aspects of print and digital media, as well as the opportunity to work with professional writers, editors, and publishers. Over the course of the academic year, students read submissions, digitize work from the archives, help with social media, and assist with events. Each semester, TYR holds seminars and professional training sessions in skills such as magazine editing, fact-checking, podcasting, and pitching articles, to which all students are invited. We invite undergraduate and graduate students at Yale to apply for the following positions:

Undergraduates

UNDERGRADUATE READERS At the start of each academic year, TYR selects at least fifty undergraduate readers to help evaluate submissions. This volunteer program gives students exposure to the inner workings of a literary magazine. Students read submissions and write reader reports, meet with editors, attend special issue launch parties, and have their names listed in the journal. Students are also invited to the professional development seminars and talks TYR hosts with leading editors, publishers, and writers. Students interested in applying for the 2024-2025 academic year should fill out this form to receive an application. Join us for our Fall Issue Launch Party and Information Session! Monday, September 9, 2024 at 5:00 PM in HQ 131 (320 York Street). Meet our staff and learn more about the program.

UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWS Our paid undergraduate fellowship offers students entry-level training in magazine publishing. Working four hours per week during the academic year, TYR Undergraduate Fellows usually take on a specialized role within the organization, such as social media intern, archives intern, or editorial assistant, as well as providing general help to the staff of TYR . Our undergraduate fellows also evaluate submissions to the journal, helping to select essays, short stories, and poems for publication. They sometimes assist with fact-checking, promotional copy, and special projects. All students with a serious interest in writing and publishing are invited to apply, whether or not they have taken creative writing classes or worked on a Yale student publication. Many of our paid fellows begin as volunteer readers, so we encourage students interested in working for TYR to join our reading program. Applications are currently closed.

SUMMER INTERNSHIPS The Yale Review offers paid internships for eight-week periods every summer. Summer interns read submissions, digitize pieces from the archives, provide research and production assistance, and more. A call for applicants goes out in February of each academic year. This position qualifies for the Arts Apprenticeship program. Applications are currently closed and will open for Summer 2025 in December 2024.

Graduate Students

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FELLOWSHIPS Graduate students have the opportunity to apply for a paid semester-long assistant editor position in lieu of serving as a teaching fellow. This position, renewable for a second semester, is open to Yale Ph.D. students who are in their teaching years. Professional development fellows work closely with senior editors, receiving training and robust hands-on experience, acquiring the skills needed to work in publishing through reading and evaluating submissions, fact-checking, writing promotional copy, editing, building archival packages, and performing other, related tasks. Professional development fellows are expected to make a commitment of twenty hours per week to TYR. We encourage Ph.D. candidates who have a serious interest in publishing and public writing to apply. Applications are currently closed.

ART FELLOW In this academic-year-long paid position, a graduate student in art or design works approximately five hours a week with our art editor and managing editor to find art, secure rights, assist in cover production, and keep track of captions for each print issue and our website. The art fellow occasionally designs graphics for print and the web, and supports our editors in finding art for online-only stories. Applications are open on a rolling basis. Interested graduate students should email a cover letter, résumé, and portfolio to managing editor Will Frazier at [email protected] .

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Writing for External Fellowships

You are here, online presentations & workshops.

Check out some of our most popular info sessions, workshops, student panels, and slide shows!

Tip: Consider the advice provided in the recorded Writing Proposals for National Fellowships Workshop as you draft your application. Pair with a Writing Partner through the Poorvu Writing Center for one-on-one help in drafting your fellowship application.

Tackling Essays​

Writing essays for fellowship applications requires good understanding of the fellowship program, its requirements, and its expectations. Official fellowship websites often provide helpful advice and guidance to applicants (examples include the Fulbright ,  Truman and Udall ).

Tip: Tempted to read sample fellowship essays? It's a good idea to draft your own essays first, so that you are not influenced by outside sources. Remember, fellowship committees are interested in learning about your individual project and ideas.

Tips for any application

What's the best way to begin  start early and do your homework..

It takes more time than you might think to explore options, seek advice from busy mentors, and put together a good application. (See elsewhere on our website for advice about asking for letters , crafting a résumé , and more.)

Note: Some key questions: What are you proposing to do with the fellowship, where, and why?  What does the fellowship application request?  What is the essay prompt? What is the fellowship for? What is its history? What are the stated selection criteria for the fellowship? What is the audience for whom you’re writing?

Think of your application as a whole

What are the ideas you want to present? Consider what will best be conveyed by which part of your application: the letters of recommendation, the language evaluation, the letter of affiliation, the transcript, résumé/cv, short-answer questions, and essays, as applicable.

• What can be said only or best by you?
• What might better be said for you by other people (e.g., in a letter or language evaluation), or by your transcript, résumé, etc.?
• Considering each essay prompt; what might you put into each answer?
• Do essays/other pieces of the application complement one another to create a coherent narrative?
• Be strategic about what is included.  What sheds light on key points or advances your argument?  What is interesting but not particularly relevant to the application/proposal, and therefore might be omitted at need?

As you write

Remember that audiences vary. Write for an intelligent, well-educated non-specialist, but remember that a specialist in your field might read your application.

Some committees are more likely than others to contain specialists, e.g.: Goldwater applications are read by people in STEM fields, Hays-Brandeis applications by people in arts fields, and graduate school applications are read by the scholars who might be teaching you; in these instances, write for experts in the field.

Note: Things to consider: Does your application start the conversation going in the right direction and open up interesting possibilities for further discussion? Does it open any subject you would rather not discuss? If there is an obvious weakness in your application, it is often better to tackle it up front in your application, so that concerns are defused and questions don’t detract from your strengths.

Re-read what you've written

After you've written a draft, leave it alone for a while, and come back to it with fresh eyes. Does your draft say what you want it to say, clearly and concisely, in your own voice? Have you made the points you need to make, and is there an important aspect that you take so much for granted that you forgot to spell it out?

Note: Remember to proofread, and if you can have someone else proofread for you do that, too. Typos say that you are not taking an application seriously, so the reader need not either.

You have nothing to lose

No matter the result of your fellowship applicaiton, the process of applying will teach you valuable skills that will help you navigate future applications, interviews, and projects. Remember that you can always apply again - there is nothing to lose in trying!

Writing essays for fellowships for postgraduate study in Britain  and Ireland

In addition to the advice above, consider the following key questions if pursuing fellowships for postgraduate study in Britain and Ireland:

• What are you proposing to do with the fellowship, where, and why? 
• Have you found the right graduate program for you, to suit your preparation, interests, and long-term goals? 
• Why study in Britain or Ireland over another destination?
• Why are you applying for this particular fellowship? What might you bring to the fellowship, to contribute to the community of scholars and to the mission of the fellowship?

There are many fellowship opportunities - take your time and find the experience that would be best for you and your goals.

Other writing resources

• College Writing Tutors   (for current students)
• Yale Writing Center   (for current students)
• Pair with a Writing Partner
• Book a Fellowship Appointment

Books on Writing

• Writing Personal Statements , by Joe Schall
• Sample essays provided by Schall
• Style for Students , by Joe Schall
• Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr.
• On Writing Well, by William Zinsser
• Manual of Style, University of Chicago

Prepare and Apply

• Writing a Fellowship Proposal
• Creating a Budget
• Crafting a Résumé
• Interview Tips
• Requesting Letters
• Video Workshop
• Interviewing for External Fellowships
• Previous winners
• Recorded Presentations & Workshops
• Planning Toolkits
• Institutional Review Board (IRB)
• Pre-Departure Resources

Yale Creative Writing

• English Department

At Yale, the study of nonfiction writing proceeds from the idea that engaged reading, coupled with close observation of the real world, leads to vivid writing. Our nonfiction faculty interacts closely with the Yale Journalism Initiative  and its core faculty: Steven Brill, Mark Oppenheimer, and Bob Woodward . The seminars we offer range across the entire nonfiction spectrum, from lyric essay to memoir to long-form reporting to science writing. We provide students a foundation that allows them to write well about subjects to which they are drawn, including, for example, a 90-year-old typewriter repairman, the ethics of sweatshops, the side effects of hormonal birth control, or the trial and incarceration of a parent . Work produced in our classrooms has even had remarkable success in national writing competitions. For example, more Yale submissions have been honored in the Norman Mailer Writing Competition than those from any other university. After graduation, our students enter a variety of fields — medicine, law, finance — in which they depend daily on the skills they have honed in class and on the page. Many have become professional writers and have gone on to contribute to The New Yorker , The Atlantic , Harper’s , The Economist , The New Republic , The New York Times , and The Washington Post , among other publications, and to write books that have reached wide audiences.