Rare Book School Awards 15 Fellowships for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage

Charlottesville, VA — Rare Book School has selected an inaugural cohort of 15 fellows to join the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage (RBS-Mellon CH Fellowship). Fellows will participate in a three-year program that includes an orientation, Rare Book School coursework, community symposia, and other activities relating to multicultural collections and trainings.
 
This program builds on the success of earlier RBS fellowship initiatives, including the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship of Scholars in Critical Bibliography, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-RBS Fellowships for Early-Career Librarians, and the RBS-RBMS Diversity Fellowship Program. The RBS-Mellon CH Fellowship has been formed to: develop skills for documenting and interpreting visual and textual materials in special collections and archives; raise awareness within professional communities about the significance of inclusive, multicultural collections, including their promotion, development, and stewardship; build connections with diverse communities and publics through strategic programming, outreach, and advocacy; advance careers by establishing new pathways and skills for professional growth.
 
The 15 RBS-Mellon CH Fellows were chosen from a highly competitive field of more than 60 applicants by a selection committee comprising leading cultural heritage professionals. The selected fellows work closely with a broad spectrum of multicultural collections, ranging from Cuban heritage collections and Black diaspora archives, to Los Angeles community-centered archives to HBCU library collections, and from post-custodial human rights archives representing Latin America and Africa, to digital collections of cultural heritage items from tribal archives, libraries, and museums. Geographically, the fellows represent states across the country from coast to coast (and Hawaii).
 
“We very much look forward to welcoming this remarkably accomplished group of Cultural Heritage Fellows to Rare Book School, where we hope they will find much to learn and we know they will have much to contribute,” said RBS Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J. “We are profoundly thankful to The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their support of the diversity initiative and its mission.”
 
Congratulations to all!
    •    Dorothy Judith Berry, Digital Collections Program Manager, Houghton Library, Harvard University
    •    Christina M. Bleyer, Director of Special Collections & Archives, Trinity College
    •    Ellen-Rae Cachola, Evening Supervisor & Archives Manager, Public Services, University of Hawaii Law Library, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
    •    Azalea Camacho, Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, California State University, Los Angeles
    •    Dale J. Correa, Middle Eastern Studies Librarian & History Coordinator, The University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin
    •    Clinton R. Fluker, Assistant Director for Engagement & Scholarship, Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
    •    DeLisa A. Minor Harris, Special Collections Librarian, John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, Fisk University
    •    Amanda T. Moreno, Archivist, Cuban Heritage Collection, University of Miami Libraries
    •    Bridgett Kathryn Pride, Reference Librarian, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
    •    T-Kay Sangwand, Librarian for Digital Collection Development, Digital Library Program, University of California, Los Angeles
    •    Jessica Tai, Resident Processing Archivist, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University
    •    Krystal Tribbett, Curator for Orange County Regional History, Special Collections & Archives, Orange County and Southeast Asian Archive Center, University of California, Irvine
    •    Anastasia Tucker, Education and Outreach Archivist, Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation, Washington State University
    •    Margarita Vargas-Betancourt, Associate Librarian and Latin American & Caribbean Special Collections Librarian, Department of Special & Area Studies Collections, University of Florida
    •    Rachel E. Winston, Black Diaspora Archivist, The University of Texas at Austin

More information about the Andrew W. Mellon Diversity, Inclusion & Cultural Heritage fellowship is available at: https://rarebookschool.org/admissions-awards/fellowships/mellon-diversity/.