Mid-Career Research Fellowship – Application Instructions

OVERVIEW

The Mid-Career Research Fellowship contributes to a mid-career faculty member's scholarly growth by providing a full academic year of release time from teaching and regular service obligations. This fellowship provide faculty members in the humanities at the Associate Professor level an opportunity to focus on a post-tenure research project of the kind required for promotion to Full Professor.

The Hall Center's Mid-Career Research Fellowship is for a full academic year.  It provides office space in the Hall Center to the winning faculty member for up to one year and a $1,000 research stipend to be used to reimburse research-related costs. Applicants must demonstrate that their teaching, research, and service as an Associate Professor are on track for promotion to Full Professor.

The Mid-Career Research Fellow is expected to attend regular seminars throughout the academic year of residency at which fellows will discuss their pre-circulated work-in-progress. Each resident fellow also gives a public talk about their work during residency and the other fellows are expected to attend these events.

The Mid-Career Research Fellowship provides up to $35,000 from the Hall Center to support one semester of the winning faculty member's salary. All remaining salary expenses for the year of the fellowship will be covered by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.  The Mid-Career Research Fellowship also provides $10,000 to the winning faculty member's department to cover one semester of teaching release.  Funds to cover the second semester of teaching release must be acquired through negotiation between the winning faculty member's department and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.  

All applicants must obtain a short letter or email from the applicant's department chair confirming the department can accommodate the necessary teaching release.

If the applicant's home department is not in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, they must obtain a short letter or email from their Dean committing to provide support equivalent to that provided by CLAS.

Applications from the Arts and Social Sciences are welcome, but applicants must demonstrate the ways in which their project utilizes themes and methodologies from the humanities.

DEADLINE: Monday, October 30, 2023 at 11:59PM.

ELIGIBILITY

Eligible applicants will:

1. Be a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Kansas within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the time of application and the time of the fellowship;

2. Propose a humanities-oriented project worthy of a year's concentrated effort;

3. Demonstrate a commitment to seeking promotion to the Full Professor rank;

4. Demonstrate a track record of successful research, teaching, and service during the Associate Professor phase;

5. Not have held an internal or external research leave or sabbatical leave in the four years prior to the start of the proposed fellowship period;

6. Not hold another internal or external semester or year-long fellowship at the same time as the Mid-Career Research Fellowship.

REQUIREMENTS

Fellows are required to:

1. Maintain a regular presence in their Hall Center office throughout the entire fellowship year;

2. Attend regular seminars throughout the academic year of residency at which resident fellows discuss their pre-circulated work-in-progress;

3.  Give a public talk about their work during residency, and attend the public talks given by the other resident fellows;

4. Submit a brief report describing the work accomplished and its impact on the overall project. The report is due no later than four weeks immediately following completion of the fellowship year. Failure to comply with this requirement will make the fellow ineligible for future funding from the Hall Center;

5.  Submit requests for reimbursement of project related expenses up to $1,000 together with required receipts no more than 90 days after the expense was incurred and no later than August 31 immediately following the academic year of the fellowship;

6. Return to their full-time KU responsibilities and serve for a minimum of one academic year at the end of the fellowship period; persons who do not return to the institution following the fellowship period shall reimburse KU for their salary and fringe benefits paid during the fellowship period; and

7. Deposit with the Hall Center copies of any publications that result from work undertaken during the fellowship period.

APPLICATION PROCESS

All application materials must be submitted through the Hall Center Competitions Portal.  Paper submissions will not be accepted.  For an application to be verified as complete, and thus forwarded for committee review, applicants must:

1. Create an account or log in to an existing account.

2. Select the Apply Now button next to this competition. 

3. Complete the Applicant Information form in the Portal.

NOTE: The demographic questions in the application form are optional. We would appreciate your responses as they allow us to chart demographic data and better comprehend the communities we reach and serve through this competition and award program. This information will not be used for determining awards. 

4. Upload the following materials as 4 separate PDF files:

a. Curriculum Vitae not to exceed 2 pages that includes:

* Record of applicant's education, including the dates when degrees were awarded;

* Record of applicant's employment;

* List of applicant's teaching accomplishments;

* List of applicant's service to the department, university, and scholarly field;

* List of applicant's publications, including page numbers for journal articles and book chapters; and

* List of applicant's awards and grants. 

b. Project Description not to exceed five double-spaced pages, with one-inch margins and twelve-point type. Endnotes are included in the page limitations. Explain the goals, methods and significance of the project and its contribution to the pertinent discipline and to the humanities generally. Place the work in your overall research trajectory. Include a work plan of what will be accomplished during the fellowship period, what will be accomplished after the fellowship period, and your plans for external funding applications. Include information on when you plan to apply for promotion to Full Professor and explain how your research, teaching and service record make you an ideal candidate for promotion.

c. One-page bibliography, single-spaced with a return space between each entry; one-inch margins and twelve-point type.

d. A short letter or email from the applicant's department chair confirming the department can accommodate the necessary teaching release.

e. If the applicant's home department is not in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, a short letter or email from their Dean committing to provide support equivalent to that provided by CLAS.  

No extraneous materials will be considered.

PEER REVIEW PROCESS

The Hall Center Director appoints an interdisciplinary panel of KU faculty with successful grant and publishing track records to select awardees.  All applicants can access feedback from the selection committee via the online competition portal following the conclusion of the competition.  

CRITERIA

A committee appointed by the Hall Center Director selects Fellows according to the following criteria:

1. Significance of the contribution that the proposed project will make to thought and knowledge in the pertinent genre, tradition, or field, and to the humanities generally;

2. Quality of the conception, definition, organization and description of the proposed project;

3. Likelihood that the applicant will complete the work proposed for the fellowship period;

4. Likelihood that the applicant will complete the overall project;

5. Feasibility and thoughtfulness of the applicant's external funding plans; and

6. Likelihood that the applicant's record of research, teaching, and service will result ultimately in a promotion to Full Professor.

7. Potential connections with the projects of other resident fellows, to foster productive engagement during residency.  (The key words or phrases capturing the topics addressed in the applicant's research project, provided by the applicant, will assist the selection committee in this process.)

QUESTIONS

Applicants should direct questions about the Mid-Career Research Fellowship to Hall Center Assistant Director Andrew Hodgson (ahodgson@ku.edu).