The Fellowship began to take shape under the leadership of an expanded Advisory Committee. The Dallas Foundation was selected as administrator of the Fellowship fund. Dr. Wheeler learned about the Fellowship for the first time in May 2009 when she was honored at the International Congress on Medieval Studies with the announcement of this fund's genesis as well as the news that a festschrift (a collection of scholarly essays) would be published in her honor. Magistra Doctissima: Essays in Honor of Bonnie Wheeler–the first of two festschrifts in her honor–was published in 2013.
The current board members are: Dorrie Armstrong, Jeffery Jerome Cohen, Chick Chickering, Jo Goyne, Valerie Hotchkiss, Katie Keene, Don Stone, Anne B. Yardley, and Bonnie Wheeler.