FAQ: ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowships and Grants

The ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship and Grant program supports research projects that address topics in the humanities or social sciences and/or teaching and learning in those disciplines. In order for social science applications to be eligible, they must employ predominantly humanistic approaches and qualitative/interpretive methodologies. The ultimate goal(s) of the project can include scholarly articles, book chapters, or a monograph; course plans; textbooks; exhibitions; community or campus events; online resources; etc. Competitive projects will include substantive original research. 

This program does not fund creative work or projects in the performing arts (e.g., novels, films, performance, or musical composition) unless the projects also involve substantial engagement with humanistic scholarship. The program also does not fund social science research that involves predominantly quantitative and/or experimental methods. 

This program funds both academic research that aims to make original contributions to knowledge within humanities fields and projects that engage in scholarly inquiry in the interest of incorporating research into student learning and the practice of teaching. If the project addresses teaching and learning, it must focus on a postsecondary context. Projects that focus on teaching and learning in K-12 classrooms are not eligible. Similarly, if the project outcomes are curricula, course plans, textbooks, or other teaching-related material, these must be for use in a higher education setting and not in K-12 classrooms. 

Our application process requests that individual scholars apply and be named as the fellow or grantee. However, the program welcomes applications that involve collaboration. As long as the other eligibility and application requirements are met, applicants may designate portions of the award stipend to support a range of collaborative activities. In such cases, it is important that the applicant clearly outlines in the proposal, budget, and timeline what roles collaborators will play in the funded project.

Yes, an applicant may apply to both the fellowship and project grant competition. However, the same project cannot be submitted for both competitions; applicants may not accept more than one award in a given competition year. 

Yes, an applicant for an ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship or Project Grant may also apply to other ACLS fellowship and grant programs (such as our central ACLS Fellowship program, or our Digital Justice Grant program, or our Luce/ACLS China Studies programs, etc.) as are suitable. However, not more than one ACLS or ACLS-joint award may normally be accepted in any one competition year. 

Yes, HBCU fellows may hold a concurrent fellowship provided that the fellowship does not fund the exact same activities or conflict with our award terms. Concurrent fellowships may fund different parts of the same larger project but may not fund the same budget items. Fellows are required to contact ACLS and provide additional details on any fellowship received during their award term before accepting a concurrent fellowship.

Yes, you may apply if you have an MS in an eligible interpretive social science field.  

A Doctor of Education degree is not on its own an eligible degree for this program. If you hold an EdD, you may still be eligible if you satisfy the following two criteria:

1. Most of the courses you teach are in the humanities or interpretive social sciences, and
2. Your project employs predominantly humanistic approaches and contributes to the humanities or the interpretive social sciences.

If you feel that you satisfy these criteria, please email [email protected] with your name, institution, department, degree, a list of recent courses you have taught in the humanities and/or social sciences, and a brief description of your project.

The proposal is a concise statement describing your research project and making a case for funding. The narrative proposal should explain, briefly but specifically: the project’s background (including any progress you have already made), scholarly contributions and broader significance, your methodology and interlocutors, what you plan to do (and why) during the proposed award tenure, and the project’s proposed outcomes. The proposal should be jargon free and provide enough detail to lead reviewers through the trajectory of the project. Your proposal should address both experts in your field and general readers. For experts, explain why this project offers insight into the issues of your discipline, and make clear what question or problem is being addressed. For those outside your field, explain any terms that might not be familiar, and explain possible implications for scholars in other fields or a general audience.

Applicants may use any standard citation style in their proposal narrative, although please note that citations (footnotes or endnotes) are included in the page count. While text in the body of the proposal must be double spaced and in 11-point Arial or Helvetica font, footnotes may be in 10-point font and single spaced. Applications that do not adhere to stated formatting guidelines will be excluded from review.

The application asks you to submit a brief bibliography. We realize that this can only be a portion of the full bibliographic basis of your project, so we encourage applicants to focus on the key primary sources and interlocutors for your project. Whose work are you building upon? With whom are you in significant agreement, or disagreement? Are you citing current literature?

As you put this document together, consider carefully how your bibliography will substantiate your proposed intervention to the reviewers. Your proposal and bibliography should be in conversation and showcase the project’s potential to engage successfully with the field or fields of study in which it is proposed and make a meaningful contribution to these field/s. You may use any standard citation style, but please be consistent throughout your application.

ACLS asks you to submit a short (one page, double spaced) personal statement that explains your intellectual trajectory as a scholar and how your work comes together at the nexus of personal experience and research interests. There is no one correct way to write a personal statement, but you should aim to provide the committee with additional context about you as a scholar and how you have come to work on this project. What kinds of (personal/scholarly/professional) commitments animate your work? How have those factors influenced your trajectory and brought you to the research questions you are asking now?

The institutional certification form attests that your institution supports the project as proposed in your application, including any course releases built into the award tenure. As part of the application, the applicant will add contact information for a department chair, dean, or other senior administrator at the applicant’s institution who can confirm institutional support. The applicant will simply share the name, email, and title of the institutional contact, and ACLS will email the form to the administrator directly. For reference, the brief form will ask an administrator to confirm the following statements on behalf of the institution. If selected for an HBCU fellowship or grant:

• the institution supports the applicant in carrying out the project as outlined in the proposal submitted to ACLS, including any release time proposed during the award tenure.
• the full amount of the award stipend will be devoted to the activities described in the application and budget, and that no overhead or indirect charges will be made against ACLS funds. If funds are used as salary, it is understood that taxes will be deducted from the award and that appropriate reporting will be made to the IRS.
• the institution plans to accept the $2,500 institutional grant that accompanies the faculty award.

While all applicants must submit an institutional contact as part of the application, only those that pass our eligibility and formatting checks and advance to the first round of peer review will be asked to complete the institutional support form.

Yes. In line with the program’s mission of supporting a culture of research at HBCUs, the additional $2,500 institutional funds that come with each award, and the invitation to freely join the ACLS Associate Member network, we must have institutional certification from all applicants who advance to peer review. To this end, we encourage applicants to speak to relevant folks at their institutions about the potential award tenure. Please note that the program allows for flexible award tenures, including summer work, and it is possible to build a workplan that fits a wide variety of institutional contexts.

No. Only the contact information for the administrator is due by the November 11^th deadline. If the applicant passes the eligibility and formatting check and moves to the first round of peer review, ACLS will directly contact the administrator designated in the application to confirm institutional support. Administrators will have until mid-January to complete the brief form.

You can never start too early. When you have drafted a workplan and have a sense of how your award tenure might be structured, it is a good idea to start having conversations with folks on your campus. This can help you figure out what (if any) course releases are possible, help clarify budget expenses, and strategize on how to best use the additional institutional funds that accompany each award.

If these funds will be used toward course buyouts, please indicate that in the budget and include the cost per course. If these funds will simply be compensating you for your time (e.g., to cover summer salary, to replace courses you might usually teach over the summer, or to supplement a reduced course load if you are not full-time), please indicate that amount in the budget. For the fellowship, awardees must take the equivalent of four course releases over the 15–27-month award term. You have flexibility in how this time is structured: a series of course releases, replacement salary for two summers, a semester’s leave, or some combination of these elements. For the grant, awardees are not required to include any course releases or salary replacement in their budgets; however, grant monies may be used for this purpose as well.

If you have budget questions specific to your project, please drop by one of our upcoming office hours. You can also email [email protected] with any questions.

While the fellowships and grants are awarded to an individual, ACLS can arrange payment through the awardee’s institution upon request. However, institutions may not deduct funds for overhead or indirect costs from the individual’s fellowship or grant. For more information, review Information for Institutional Administrators.

ACLS fellowship and grant stipends do not cover overhead or indirect costs. However, a portion of the stipend for this program may cover direct institutional costs of the proposed fellowship activities. While the fellowship stipend may already cover the cost of teaching replacement, there may be additional costs to the institution associated with supporting the award and the awardee’s proposed activities. Examples may include office expenses, equipment and room rental fees, or staff time. No more than 20 percent of the stipend may be used to defray the costs of the award for the institution. Please email [email protected] if you have questions about whether any specific direct costs would qualify.

Each award also comes with an additional grant of $2,500 to the awardee’s home institution to support humanities programming or infrastructure at the school. The funds can be used to offset direct costs for the fellowship/grant such as hiring replacement faculty for a course release, or administrative costs related to administering the grant. These funds may also support activities like conference attendance for faculty; a speaker series in the humanities; research materials for students in humanities courses; support for extending the reach of the office of sponsored research for humanities faculty; or any other cost that would support the humanities on campus.

The HBCU application asks applicants to designate an administrator (a department chair, dean, or other senior administrator) at their institution who can accept the $2,500 institutional grant. If awarded an HBCU fellowship or grant, ACLS will share a payment form where the administrator can include a short description of how the funds will be used, and where to send the funds. That administrator will also be invited to our secure, online payment portal to complete the tax and banking information for the institution.