International Visitors Program

The Humanities Center will offer up to six short-term residencies to International Visitors each academic year. Residencies will be approximately four weeks. The Call for Nominations is issued to Stanford departments, centers, and programs at the start of the Winter Quarter, for fellowships the subsequent academic year.

The purpose of the residencies is to bring to Stanford leading scholars who are of particular interest to departments and other units on campus and who fit within the mission of the Humanities Center. Often, these experts are working in similar fields or on complementary projects to their campus counterparts. During their stay, the International Visitors are asked to share their research through a series of presentations, and engage with faculty and students to develop ongoing intellectual collaborations.

Stanford departments, programs, and research centers and institutes are each eligible to nominate one candidate for consideration for a residency. A committee convened by the Humanities Center will select fellows from among the candidates. Visitors are chosen for their ability to expose the campus to new and relevant research agendas or geographic regions, and the likelihood that the residency will result in lasting scholarly contributions. Especially appropriate are candidates who are finishing a project and are in position to share the results with colleagues on campus. 

International Visitors are awarded a generous stipend, which encompasses housing expenses, for the duration of their one-month residency. The Humanities Center works with the visitors to arrange visas and travel reimbursements. Nominating departments are responsible for the costs associated with the events they host while the visitor is in residence (e.g. research talk, afternoon reception). As active participants in Stanford’s intellectual community, the International Visitors have an office at the Humanities Center, share lunch daily with the Center fellows, and take part in workshops, meetings, and lectures at the Center. Visitors are fully integrated into campus life, leading sections in Stanford undergraduate and graduate classes, giving lectures and presentations on their areas of expertise, carrying out joint projects with Stanford colleagues, and conducting research in libraries and archives.

The call for nominations for 2024-25 will be issued at the start of Winter Quarter. The nominations deadline is February 1, 2024.

Current and former international visitors

For further questions about the International Visitors Program, please contact Svetlana Turetskaya, International and Academic Programs Manager. 

Support the International Visitors Program

Support the International Visitors Program

The International Visitors Program helps strengthen Stanford’s ties with universities worldwide. Expendable gifts are critical to the program's existence.

Naming Opportunities

A pledge of $20,000 a year for three years will name an international visitor each year during that period. This amount provides comprehensive support for the visitor’s residency.

Expendable Gifts

Expendable funds are critical to sustaining core aspects of this vital program. A gift of $15,000 will help support the residency of one international visitor.

General Gifts

Gifts of any amount are gratefully accepted and provide essential programmatic support.

Give online

Information for Nominating Departments

Eligibility

Stanford departments, programs, and research centers and institutes are each eligible to nominate one candidate for a residency for the following academic year through their chair or director. Preference will be given to departments, programs and research centers that did not host a Humanities Center visitor during the previous year.

Nominating units are asked to commit to hosting two activities with the candidate, should the nomination be successful. Examples of such activities include: student workshops, faculty discussion sessions, departmental lectures, and participation in departmental colloquia. Visitors may not offer courses for credit.

Selections will be made by a committee convened by the Humanities Center. Especially appropriate are candidates who are finishing a project and are in a position to share the results with colleagues on campus.

Nomination Process

Nominations by Stanford organizations should include:

  • Brief rationale for nomination (approximately 500-1,000 words) submitted by the department chair or program director including a précis of the candidateʼs profile and an explanation of how the candidate would fit with the mission of the Humanities Center.
  • Nomineeʼs vita, preferably in .pdf format. 
  • A commitment from the nominating unit to host two events with a selected candidate, along with a brief proposal for a possible activity (no more than one paragraph). Examples of such activities include: student workshops, faculty discussion sessions, departmental lectures, participation in departmental colloquia. Note that these visitors may not offer courses for credit.
  • Additional letters of support from other Stanford units, indicating that the candidate would be of interest to their community, may also be submitted.