Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Fund

The Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Endowed Fund for Human Rights provides financial resources to benefit graduate students to study and conduct research about human rights.

The Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Endowed Fund for Human Rights provides financial resources to benefit graduate students to study and conduct research about human rights.

Fund Recipients

More

Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld take to heart the words of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” They are enthusiastic supporters of the Center for Human Rights, and are proud to assist and encourage its mission to promote human rights through education, research, and civic engagement.

Peter MackBorn in Ireland, Peter Mack is Professor of Piano at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. He has performed throughout the United States and Europe, as well as Australia and the former Soviet Union. His prizes include first place in the New Orleans, Young Keyboard Artists and Pacific International piano competitions. His students are frequent winners of local, national, and international competitions.

Jamie MayerfeldJamie Mayerfeld is Professor of Political Science at the University of Washington. He is the author most recently of The Promise of Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). In this book, he develops an account of constitutional democracy as a cooperative project enlisting both domestic and international guardians to strengthen the protection of human rights.

Fund Eligibility

The Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Fund provides financial resources to benefit graduate students to study and/or conduct research about human rights. In 2025, we will have approximately $10,000 to distribute. Available funds may be issued in a single award or split between multiple awardees. The number of awards and amounts will vary depending on the number and quality of applications.

  • Currently enrolled graduate students at UW Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma are eligible to apply.
  • The award may be used towards tuition, research, travel, books, materials, or equipment.
  • US citizenship or permanent resident status is NOT REQUIRED.

Fund Priority:

The growth of the UW Center for Human Rights has led to applications from diverse disciplines and various stages of graduate careers. To streamline the selection process, the UWCHR Steering Committee has voted to established a set of criteria and priorities.

The following are not requirements; they are priorities. This means the selection committee could still issue an award to an outstanding candidate whose work doesn’t align with all these criteria. Each of the five criteria below are of equal importance.

      1. Applications from PhD students
      2. Those conducting pre-dissertation work, or at the final stage of dissertation completion
      3. Projects working in areas or topics underrepresented in the field of human rights
      4. Projects designed in collaboration with communities who are directly affected by rights violations, or employing participatory action research
      5. Projects that engage centrally with human rights practices and literatures

Any proposed expenditure permitted under the terms of the endowment agreement is valid; we do not prioritize those needing to cover certain types of costs over others.

Application Materials

Applications for the 2025 cycle are now closed.
Please check back January 2026 for the next funding cycle.

You will be asked to provide the following information:

  1. Biographic information, status as student, contact information, GPA, etc.
  2. CV/Resume with current contact information.
  3. Proposal that answers the following questions (approx. 1000 words):
    • A description of the research/study and the goals of the travel, if any travel is included.
    • What experiences do you have (if any) in the field of human rights?
    • Outline the purpose of your research/study and its relevance to the study of (or practice of promoting) human rights.
  4. A detailed budget describing how the funds would be used and, if applicable, how this support would supplement other funds, fellowships, and grants.
  5. Unofficial transcripts.
  6. A letter of recommendation from the student’s primary advisor or committee member.
  7. The names and full contact information (campus address, phone, and email) of two University of Washington (or past non-UW) faculty members who are familiar with your work.

For a list of frequently asked questions about our funding, click here.

If you have any questions about the application process, please do not hesitate to contact us at uwchr@uw.edu.

Apply