Eligibility and Duration
Each year YDS appoints as visiting fellows a limited number of distinguished professors, clergy and others in ministry, government officials, leaders of foundations or corporations, journalists, writers, or otherwise qualified and accomplished persons of advanced professional status. The aim of the program is to give established researchers a regular and significant presence at YDS for the mutual benefit of the fellows and the University. Visiting Fellows must hold the highest degree in their field and be at least five years beyond the date of that degree; hold a position at another institution (university, church, foundation, government agency, company, et al.); have an outside source of financial support (through salary or grant) of at least $3,660/month (plus $725 for spouse and $525/month for each child)–personal funds, such as an applicant’s bank account, are not eligible sources of funding; and have health insurance coverage. Appointment may be for a period between two months and twelve months. (Reappointment requests should be in writing to Dr. Jan Hagens and Tim Goselin and will require completion of a new application, including an updated CV.)
Please note: Recent Ph.D.s are not eligible for visiting fellowships, but may apply for a postdoctoral fellowship; it is the Yale Provost Office and the Yale Office for Postdoctoral Studies which decide upon status and title. Postdoctoral fellows cannot be employed elsewhere during the fellowship.
The funding and visa requirements for visiting and postdoctoral fellows are outlined at here: https://postdocs.yale.edu/administrators/titles-eligibility
The Application
Successful applicants will have clearly articulated research projects that necessitate work with specific YDS Library holdings. They must demonstrate through the application as well as at least two letters of academic recommendation that they have the requisite skills and training to carry out the work. The required letters of recommendation should not be character recommendations but professional in kind, and must come from academics other than the YDS Faculty Evaluator. In their application, applicants should identify one YDS faculty member as their Faculty Evaluator, i.e., someone who has the academic expertise to judge the merits of the applicant’s research proposal. Applicants do not need to contact the YDS faculty member and secure his/her support; our office will turn to the faculty member directly, present the research proposal as outlined in the application, and hear his/her opinion. (Some applicants have, already at the outset of their application, a YDS faculty member’s agreement to serve as Sponsor; in that case, no further faculty experts need to be identified, as long as our Office is informed which faculty member to contact.) If the applicant has definite plans to work with a YDS faculty member, he or she should contact that faculty member and make sure such collaboration is possible. Please submit the application form along with all of the remaining items on the checklist. Please give careful consideration to the items requested on the checklist. Appointment at this rank requires review by the Yale Office for Postdoctoral Affairs and approval of the YDS Dean and the University Provost. The information in most cases needs to pass through at least three departments at Yale Divinity School and four administrative departments at Yale University, and often also the U.S. State Department, Embassy, or Consulate. Omission of application items will result in a delay in processing.
Fees
A non-refundable application fee of $50 should be submitted at the time of application. At present, the Yale system is unable to process credit cards. Please send a check or postal/bank money order, made out to “Yale Divinity School.” Only checks or money orders in U.S. dollars drawn on U.S. banks are accepted. If you cannot obtain a check or money order, please attempt to have the check sent by someone from within the U.S. Please send to: Yale Divinity School, Visiting Fellows Program, 409 Prospect Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Alternatively, this fee can be paid upon arrival. Upon arrival on campus, there will be a registration fee of $750 per six-month period. (If your appointment is for more than six months, $1,500 are required.)
Applicants who are U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents
Please note that, like non-U.S. citizens, you are required to submit documentation of financial support of at least $3,660/month (plus more for accompanying spouses and/or children, as specified in the introductory paragraph above) for the duration of your stay here at Yale. Such support must be from an external source, i.e., from an academic institution, a church, a foundation, a government agency, etc. Please allow at least six months processing upon receipt of your application materials for approval of your application; counting from the date of initial submission, some applications take six months to reach approved status. The paperwork needs to pass through six approval levels in four administrative units before the final authorization is granted.
Applicants who are not U.S. Citizens or Permanent Residents
The visa application process will require you to upload documents and data into the OISS Connect system; much of this information will be identical to what you will already have submitted to the YDS Visiting Fellows Program Office – we apologize for this inconvenience. Through email, you will receive a username and password for OISS Connect. The Yale Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) will assist you with acquiring the appropriate U.S. visa; they will send you a DS-2019 needed for the visa application. (In general, their website at http://oiss.yale.edu/ provides a host of helpful information.) In addition to the time frame noted above for U.S. citizens, please allow 30 days for OISS to process your DS-2019 for your visa paperwork. If you will require an IAP-66 for a visa, it is imperative that you also submit (at the same time you submit your application) documentation of financial support of at least $3,660/month (plus more for accompanying spouses and/or children) for the duration of your stay here at Yale, i.e., with the exact dates of your fellowship period. Such support cannot be from a personal account, but must be from an external source, i.e., from an academic institution, a church, a foundation, a government agency, et al. Some applications take more than six months to reach approved status, counting from the date of initial submission; as mentioned, for applications by individuals who are not U.S. citizens or Permanent Residents, preparation of the DS-2019 will require an additional 30 days.
Conditions
After the VF’s arrival on campus, there should not be an expectation that Yale faculty will commit time to the VF’s project, though a working relationship might of course develop. Visiting Fellows receive a Yale ID and a Yale email address, and they may audit classes with the permission of the instructor. They have access to the libraries of the University to perform their research work independently. Unfortunately, office space and clerical support are not available. Visiting Fellows are not eligible for financial aid from Yale and no stipend is available. They are not candidates for degrees and receive no academic credit.
Housing
Preference for housing on campus is given to students enrolled in degree programs, but sometimes there are single rooms or apartments which can be made available to Visiting Fellows. Please contact either Katherine Antos at katherine.antos@yale.edu or John Stachniewicz at john.stachniewicz@yale.edu at Yale Divinity School for additional information. The Berkeley Center, very close to YDS, may have a room available; please inquire with Sandi Baker, Executive Assistant to the Dean. Yale OISS has advice and help regarding on-campus and off-campus housing on their website http://oiss.yale.edu/life-at-yale/practical-matters/housing. For more help with your housing search, we will send you Application Information Sheet #4 with additional pointers.
Contact Information
Please send all application materials to the attention of:
Tim Goselin
Sr. Assistant to the Director, Visiting Fellows Program
Yale Divinity School
409 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
timothee.goselin@yale.edu
On your email communications, please copy:
Dr. Jan Hagens
Director, Visiting Fellows Program
Yale Divinity School
409 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511
jan.hagens@yale.edu