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Overview
Increasing visibility of the humanities
Jack and Doris Shadbolt exemplified a vision of the humanities and arts whereby the work of the artist was seen as integrated into the natural and social worlds the artist inhabited.
The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities Program exists to promote the practices of, and approaches to, the humanities and arts—broadly conceived—as important sites of creative and critical engagement with the major concerns of our times.
Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellows in the Humanities will be engaged academic scholars, artists, knowledge keepers, practitioners or writers in the humanities and arts. Fellows will help us imagine how we can make the world we live in better through acts of world-making in the creative arts and/or publicly engaged scholarship in the humanities, in alignment with the fundamental values of advancing reconciliation and equity, diversity and inclusion, communication, coordination, and collaboration.
Commencing in 2019, the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowships in the Humanities Program will support up to five Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellows in the Humanities a year.
The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellows in the Humanities will be hosted by a Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences academic unit (department, school or program) or research centre, and may also have secondary affiliation with an additional sponsoring SFU unit, including other Faculties, the Library, and non-academic units.
Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellows in the Humanities will engage in activities while in residence that may include, but are not limited to, teaching, research, and community and public outreach. Through their performance, creation, research, and other interactions with faculty and students in these activities, they will enhance not only their own intellectual and creative horizons but that of the university and wider community as well.
Length of appointment and stipend
SFU operates year-round with three terms that are four months each—Fall (September to December), Spring (January to April), and Summer (May to August).
The Shadbolt Fellow appointment will normally be held for one academic year (September to August), but appointments can be held for one or two terms.
Normally, the appointment of a Shadbolt Fellow is non-renewable.
The stipend associated with the fellowship is:
- One term (four months) - $25K
- Two terms (eight months) - $50K
- Three terms/One academic year (twelve months) - $75K
Over the course of their fellowship, as part of the set of activities undertaken while in residence, Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellows in the Humanities will be expected to deliver at least one public lecture, performance, or other form of community or public outreach based on their projects. They will also be expected to be available for informal, occasional consultations with students and faculty.
Applications now closed
The application period for 2025-26 is now closed.
Applications for 2026-27 will be announced in Summer 2025.
Questions should be directed to: shadbolt_fellows@sfu.ca
About Jack and Doris Shadbolt
Jack Shadbolt was a painter, educator, lecturer, editor, poet, and organizer; Doris Shadbolt was a curator, art historian, and biographer of several important Canadian artists. Together they embraced the natural environment of the Pacific Northwest and the Indigenous cultures of the region, dedicating themselves to what art historian Scott Watson calls “an art of social engagement,” or in Jack’s words, the idea “that art can serve a useful community function.”
The Shadbolts’ legacy is instructive, both for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and for the university community as a whole. The Shadbolts worked in and through educational and cultural institutions to address wider questions in the arts and the collective human endeavour itself.
The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Endowment for the Humanities funds the Shadbolt Fellowship Program as a means of increasing the visibility of the contributions of the humanities and arts to the university community; and engaging the wider community in the work of the humanities and arts.