Program
In 2019, The Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies partnered with the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) to offer up to two (2) Postdoctoral fellowships per academic year. The purpose of this postdoctoral fellowship program is to advance excellence through a commitment to diversity and equity in the fields supported by the Bunche Center. These Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (CPF) recipients are housed within the broader Bunche Fellows Program.
As a part of the UCLA Rising to the Challenge initiatives, the Bunche Center will administer the selection of five UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows, whose research focuses on Black life and the Black experience. UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows will be appointed broadly across departments and campus units and will work directly with their prospective UCLA faculty mentor. These Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows will be affiliated with the Bunche Fellows Program. The Bunche Center is excited to move forward with developing the first round of this transformative 5-Year UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellows initiative (2020-2021 to 2024-2025).
The UCLA Office of Research and Creative Activities and the UCLA Institute of American Cultures (IAC) with the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program will offer up to four (4) Chancellor’s Postdocs at UCLA (with a possibility of renewal for a second year). These fellows will form a cohort and be affiliated with the IAC’s organized research units: the American Indian Studies Center, the Asian American Studies Center, the Bunche Center for African American Studies, and the Chicano Studies Research Center. Learn more about the UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship (Research and Creative Activities and Institute of American Cultures).
To be considered for Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, all interested candidates must first apply to the PPFP. Fellows are selected from a list of PPFP applicants who were ranked as alternates or unranked finalists and had indicated potential mentors at UCLA. CPFs participate in all PPFP activities and are entitled to the UC hiring incentive. Selections will be made in the spring with fellows beginning the fall of the next academic year.
Eligibility
Qualified candidates who will contribute to diversity and equal opportunity in higher education through their teaching, research or service and who will have a doctorate awarded by the start of the appointment on July 1st.
Salary
The award provides a salary staring at approximately $54,540 depending on field and experience, benefits including health insurance and paid vacation/sick leave and up to $5,000 for research-related and program expenses.
Apply
For more information about the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and to apply, please click here.
Current Bunche Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Philana Payton
Dr. Philana Payton is a Scholar-Activist who will be a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow with the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles in fall of 2020. She is a graduate of the Cinema and Media Studies master’s and doctoral program at the University of Southern California and received her bachelor’s degree from Claflin University. Her research focus uses Black Studies, Performance Theory and Film Theory to explore blackness and visual culture through Black women’s performances. Dr. Payton has also done extensive archival research on early 20th century Black Silent Cinema and has conducted race and gender analyses on classical era films through today’s cinema, television, and media.
Past Bunche Postdoctoral Fellows
Dr. Farzana Saleem
Dr. Farzana Saleem was a UCLA Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow with Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. She completed her Ph.D. in the Clinical-Community Psychology program at the George Washington University. Dr. Saleem’s research examines the impact of racial stress and trauma on the mental health of Black and Brown children and adolescents. She uses a strengths-based lens to understand culturally relevant protective factors against racial discrimination at the family and community levels. In particular, Dr. Saleem is interested in the psychological and academic benefits of parents’ and teachers’ ethnic-racial socialization. She also investigates how community and school processes, such as neighborhood cohesion and school racial climate, impact the effects of racial discrimination. Dr. Saleem is dedicated to applied research focused on eradicating racial disparities in mental health and promoting the overall health and well-being of marginalized and racially diverse youth, families, and communities.
Dr. Saleem accepted an assistant professor position at Stanford University, beginning January 1, 2021.
