Digital Humanities Summer Fellows

Digital Humanities Summer Fellows are a cohort of Loyola students who travel to British Columbia, Canada, to participate in a week-long course at the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (DHSI), held every June. In past years this event was held at the University of Victoria, but starting in June 2025 it will take place in Montreal.

DHSI offers a range of courses that students can choose from. Week-long intensive courses offer students a chance to gain valuable digital skills that apply directly to humanities disciplines. A list of courses can be found on the DHSI website. In addition to courses, DHSI offers lectures, demonstrations, and project exhibitions, all of which are designed to help expose students to the vast field of digital humanities. The cohort is led by one or two Loyola faculty program coordinators. Throughout the week, students and faculty meet regularly for meals and other outings and discuss what students are learning and how those skills can be applied to their own research interests.

All tuition and travel costs are covered by the Center for Humanities; students also receive a per diem to help cover the costs of meals and other incidental expenses.

For inquiries and support, you may contact Dr. Oghenetoja Okoh (History department), 
Dr. James Bunzli (Theater department), or Dr. Jeffrey Witt (Philosophy department). 

Eligibility

Any full-time Loyola undergraduate student with a declared major in a humanities discipline, excluding graduating seniors, is eligible to apply. 

Application Process and Program Procedures

• Before applying to be a Digital Humanities Summer Fellow, students should review the list of “week 1” courses offered at the next calendar year’s DHSI. A list of available courses can be found on the DHSI website.
• To apply, students should submit a one-page Statement of Interest. The statement should: 1) address why the student would like to learn more about the digital humanities in general; 2) identify three different courses (ranked in order of preference) from the course offerings list and explain why these three courses would be especially beneficial to the student’s field of study, career aspirations, and/or academic interests.
• Fellows will be selected by the coordinating faculty members and at least one other member of the CFH Steering Committee. Decisions will be based on the strength of the student’s articulated interest, as well as the committee’s desire to have a diverse cohort of students.
• Applicants will be notified about whether they have been selected as a fellow in November. Successful applicants will then work with the coordinating faculty members to enroll in a DHSI course and arrange travel.
• Upon completion of the course, fellows must submit a 1- to 2-page report on their experience to the faculty program coordinators by June 30. This report should include:
  • An overview or summary of the course they took
  • A description of any specific projects or experiments they began during the institute (including links to any web-based work)
  • Some ideas about ways they can continue to build on skills they began to acquire at the institute or ways of applying some of these new skills to future classes or projects
  • A summary of the experience overall, noting any strengths or weakness of the DHSI program as a whole
• Participating students are also expected to deliver a brief group oral presentation and create a group poster summarizing their summer work at Celebrate the Humanities! (or a similar Center for the Humanities event) occurring in early fall. 

Deadline

• The student's statement of interest and application cover page must be submitted electronically to the CFH program assistant Bess Garrett, esgarrett@loyola.edu, by the last working day of October.