Center for Citizen Peacebuilding Last Letter Legacy Fellows Program

This honorific (non-monetary) fellowship offers an intellectual community, involvement in scholarly projects with the Center for Citizen Peace Building, and professional mentoring for those interested in peace, war, commemoration and memorialization. The core aspect of the fellowship is the legacy of the last letters, written by those caught up in the throes of war to loved ones, just before they were killed. The CCPB has hosted a series of events over the years on the memorial legacy of last letters of the French Resistance. The Last Letter Legacy fellows program seeks to expand the scope to any historical period. Topics might include: last letters penned by partizans of other nationalities who resisted Nazism and Fascism during WWII, final notes thrown out of trains by deported Jews, last letters or death poems penned by Kamikaze pilots, final letters from the Spanish Civil War, WWI, the Algerian War of Independence, the Irish Revolution, the French Revolution, etc. We welcome those with interest in and expertise on the content, historical context, and memorial legacy to apply.

Interested applicants should send a brief description of themselves, an academic CV, along with a 2 to 3 paragraph description of their substantive interests on which they might like to focus during the fellowship year. Please send to Daniel Brunstetter, Director of the CCPB, at dbrunste@uci.edu. The deadline is March 15, 2026, though we have rolling admissions such that applications may be considered after this date if all spots are not filled. Candidates who are accepted as Last Letter Legacy Fellows are notified by April 1, 2026. Accepted fellows will be expected to participate in the Center's current project cycle and be part of the planning for the future events during the 2025-26 academic year.