Competition

ACLS Community College Faculty Research Fellowship

Fellowship Details

  • Stipend: $7,000 to $15,000. Fellowships support two to three months of sustained research via in-person, virtual, or hybrid residency at one of three participating research centers. The fellowship provides a base stipend of $3,500 per month plus up to an additional $1,500 per month for costs associated with travel to and accommodations at the site of the research center.
  • Tenure: Award terms may commence as early as May 1, 2025, and must end no later than December 31, 2025.
  • Applicants who advance to the finalist round of review but are not selected for a fellowship will receive a $500 microgrant to support their research.
  • Completed applications must be submitted through the ACLS online fellowship administration system (ofa.acls.org) no later than 9:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, December 4, 2024.
  • Notifications will be sent via email no later than end of February 2025.

ACLS Community College Faculty Research Fellowships support research projects in the humanities and interpretive social sciences of two-to-three months at one of three partnering research centers. The awards are designed to offer maximum flexibility for participating scholars: the residencies can be taken in-person, virtually, or hybrid, whichever mode best fits the scholar’s professional and personal circumstances.

The fellowships may be taken up for any period of two-to-three months between May 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025. Candidates must commit themselves to their proposed award tenure, mode of residence (virtual, in-person, hybrid), and chosen residential center, as detailed in their application materials. ACLS will award up to 13 fellowships, with each award carrying a stipend of $3,500 per month. These funds can be used for any purpose that will enable fulltime work on their scholarly project, including summer salary/course releases, child- or eldercare costs, editorial support, access to project-related resources and technology, and more. Awardees who take all or a portion of their residency on-site at the hosting research library will receive an additional stipend of up to $1,500 per month for travel and accommodation costs related to their residencies, based on the duration of time of on-site research.

Regardless of their fellowship term and residency, all fellows will take part in two virtual networking events organized by ACLS and representatives from partnering research centers.

PARTICIPATING RESIDENTIAL RESEARCH CENTERS

American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, MA)
Folger Shakespeare Library (Washington, DC)
Newberry Library (Chicago, IL)

The application will ask for a rationale as to why a particular center or library is best suited to advance the project, and why their chosen mode of residency (virtual, in-person, hybrid) is needed. Applicants may select one alternate site in their application should their first choice be unable to accommodate them.

OBJECTIVES

  1. To support the research ambitions of teaching intensive faculty in the humanities and interpretive social sciences;
  2. To link a small number of outstanding scholars and their projects to one of a limited number of residential study centers with an established record of advancing multidisciplinary scholarship;
  3. To provide flexible research opportunities that responds to the specific needs of faculty at teaching-intensive colleges and universities.

ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must:

  • be employed primarily as instructors at a two-year degree-granting college, as defined by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and remaining so for the duration of the fellowship. Applicants do not need to be appointed full-time and do not need to be on the tenure-track. Adjunct instructors are welcome to apply.
  • have an MA or PhD in the humanities or interpretive social sciences that was conferred by the application deadline.

Projects must:

  • address a research topic in the humanities or social sciences, which may include teaching and learning in those disciplines in a higher education setting.
  • employ predominantly humanistic approaches and qualitative/interpretive methodologies.
  • include substantial original research that is grounded in the collections of the chosen research center.

 APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS

Applications must be submitted online and must include:

  • Completed application form (this includes basic biographical information, as well as several short-answer questions)
  • Proposal (no more than three pages, double spaced, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font, with one-inch margins). The proposal is meant to be a concise statement describing your research project. The narrative proposal should explain, briefly but specifically, what you plan to do and why, any progress you have already made, the project’s background, significance, and contributions, your methodology, and the project’s proposed outcomes. This content should complement the separate workplan, described below. If your project is part of a collaborative undertaking, it is essential to explain that context and describe your relationship to the other participants. Please also list the names of your colleagues and indicate whether or not those individuals are also applying for other fellowships or grants in the current competition. The proposal text must not exceed three double-spaced pages (including any footnotes or endnotes) in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font. You may, however, include up to one additional page of images, musical scores, figures, or other similar supporting non-textual materials.
  • Project workplan detailing work to be done in residency (no more than one page double spaced, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font, one-inch margins).
  • Bibliography of relevant primary and secondary sources (single spaced, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font, with one-inch margins, no more than two pages).
  • (Optional) If you have selected an alternate research center, please include an additional (alternate) work plan detailing work to be completed at a second research center should your first choice be unavailable (no more than one page double spaced, in Arial or Helvetica 11-point font, one-inch margins).

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Peer reviewers are asked to be mindful of ACLS’s commitment to inclusive excellence, and of how equity and diversity are integral components of merit. We are especially interested in supporting scholars who hail from diverse institutions and communities that are historically underrepresented in the academy. In addition, reviewers in this program are asked to evaluate all eligible proposals on the following five criteria:

  • The potential of the project to advance the field of study in which it is proposed and make a significant contribution to scholarship, teaching and learning, and/or the community.
  • The quality of the proposal with regard to its methodology, scope, and clarity of expression.
  • The feasibility of the project and the likelihood that the applicant will execute the work with available resources.
  • The applicant’s record of scholarly accomplishment and institutional, professional, and community service, taking into account relative advantages and constraints on resources for the proposed project and over the course of the applicant’s career.
  • The likelihood that residence at the specified center will increase significantly the applicant’s ability to carry the project forward.

APPLICATION SUPPORT
Applicants are invited to join us for an informational webinar, and/or for office hours sessions this fall where they can learn more about the program and receive answers to their questions from ACLS program staff.