The Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts seeks to support innovative interdisciplinary approaches to scholarship and teaching in the humanities and humanities-related social sciences. Each year, the Society chooses a new cohort of postdoctoral Cotsen fellows, who are appointed for three-year terms to conduct research and to teach in a home department, often also a program, at the University. The thirteen Cotsen fellows are joined by Princeton faculty members who participate in the Society as faculty fellows. Meeting regularly for formal and informal discussion, seminars, lectures, and reading groups, the fellows in the Society pursue new knowledge and understanding within and across disciplines and aim to advance intellectual exchange across the University community.

From its beginnings, the Society has been committed to building a community of postdoctoral fellows and faculty with a great diversity of experiences and perspectives, and to creating a collaborative environment for inquiry, debate, and groundbreaking scholarship. Its array of open and discipline-focused fellowships has included a fellowship in LGBT Studies (since 2005, generously supported by the Fund for Reunion/Princeton BTGALA) and a fellowship in Race and Ethnicity Studies (since 2006, with support of Princeton's President and Dean of the Faculty). For all fellowships, the Society welcomes a diverse and international pool of applicants, especially those from historically underrepresented backgrounds.