Thanks to generous funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, UC Davis launched the Mellon Research Initiative in Early Modern Studies, which ran for three years from 2011-2014. The Mellon Initiative hosted large-scale events each quarter that featured one or several renown visiting scholars  in early modern studies delivering lectures on their research and meeting with graduate students. Some of the speakers we hosted included Bruce R. Smith, Katherine Rowe and Elliott Visconsi, Giancarlo Casale, Ann Rosalind Jones, Peter Stallybrass, Leslie Peirce, Kathryn Schwarz, Tom Conley, Jeffrey Masten, Katherine Paugh, Jonathan Gil Harris, Madhavi Menon, and Stephen Hindle. In addition, the program offered support to graduate students in the form of fellowships, essay prizes, and funds for archival research. From 2011-2013, Ari Friedlander also joined the UC Davis faculty as the Andrew W. Mellon Visiting Assistant Professor. The Initiative also organized and funded a research trip for advanced graduate students to the Huntington library.

In its final year, the Mellon Initiative named six Research-Teaching fellows from among its graduate students. These fellows developed a sample course intended to incorporate original research into the undergraduate classroom. The syllabi and assignments they created will serve as model courses for graduate students and faculty. View their work and sample assignments here.