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The Dean L. May Graduate Fellowship

About the Dean L. May Graduate Fellowship

Gifts to the Dean L. May Graduate Fellowship in the History of Utah and the American West support some of our most promising MA and PhD students. 

Meet Current and Past Recipients


The late Dean L. May was a beloved colleague and prolific scholar who taught several generations of students in American, U.S. West, and Utah history during his nearly thirty years at the University. In four books and more than 40 articles, he examined the Mormon experience in American history and highlighted Utah’s distinctive place within it. Among his books are City of God: Community and Cooperation Among the Mormons, Utah: A People’s History, and Three Frontiers: Family, Land, and Society in the American West. An editor of the Journal of Mormon History and president of the Mormon History Association, May also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Utah State Historical Society and was named a Pioneer of Progress in Historical and Cultural Arts for the state of Utah. He produced two documentaries about Utah, one of which is regularly aired on KUED.

Under the current terms, Dean L. May Fellowship in the History of Utah and the American West provides $17,000 per year plus tuition during their first two years of graduate study. In the first year, the fellowship includes no teaching obligations; in their second year, Fellows serve as Teaching Assistants in the Department.

The Department of History seeks to support the Dean May Fellowship in perpetuity. At present, the endowment has garnered support from more than ninety individuals and foundations.  The Eccles family has been especially supportive. The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation, the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation, and the Willard L. Eccles Charitable Foundation have together pledged more than $150,000 to support the fellowship. The interest of the Eccles family is both a dramatic illustration of their generosity to the University community and a fitting tribute to Dean, since Marriner S. Eccles' term of service as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board under Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of Dean's earliest and most enduring scholarly interests.

To support the Dean L. May Graduate Fellowship or other endowments, please contact the Department Chair at (801) 585-0335 or visit the alumni donatations page and designate a contribution to this fellowship.

Last Updated: 11/15/22