FORD FOUNDATION POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS For Achieving Excellence in College and University Teaching

Citation :

The 2015 Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship competition is NOW OPEN and accepting applications. 

The application deadline date for the 2015 postdoctoral fellowship is November 14, 2014.

  

This year the program will award approximately 18 postdoctoral fellowships. The postdoctoral fellowships provide one year of support for individuals engaged in postdoctoral study after the attainment of the Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree. 
 
Postdoctoral fellowships will be awarded in a national competition administered by the National Research Council (NRC) on behalf of the Ford Foundation. The awards will be made to individuals who, in the judgment of the review panels, have demonstrated superior academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, show promise of future achievement as scholars and teachers, and are well prepared to use diversity as a resource for enriching the education of all students.
 
 

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Click on the links below to learn more about each aspect of the Postdoctoral Ford Foundation Fellowship

 
 

• Postdoctoral Eligibility 
  
• Criteria for Selection 
  
• Eligible Fields of Study 
  
• Location of Work and Proposed Research 
  
• Stipends and Benefits 
  
• Tenure
  
• Evaluation and Selection of Fellows 
  
• Conditions of the Fellowship
  

 

Postdoctoral Eligibility
Eligibility to apply for a postdoctoral fellowship is limited to:

• All citizens, nationals, and permanent residents (holders of a Permanent Resident Card) of the United States, and individuals granted deferred action status under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, regardless of race, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation, 
  
• Individuals with evidence of superior academic achievement (such as grade point average, class rank, honors or other designations), 
  
• Individuals committed to a career in teaching and research at the college or university level, and 
  
• Individuals awarded a Ph.D. or Sc.D. degree no earlier than November 30, 2007 and no later than November 15, 2014 in an eligible research-based field from a U.S. educational institution.
  

Receipt of the fellowship award is conditioned upon each awardee providing satisfactory documentation that he or she meets the eligibility requirements.

Criteria for Selection
The following will be considered as positive factors in choosing successful candidates:

• Evidence of superior academic achievement
  
• Degree of promise of continuing achievement as scholars and teachers
  
• Capacity to respond in pedagogically productive ways to the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds
  
• Sustained personal engagement with communities that are underrepresented in the academy and an ability to bring this asset to learning, teaching, and scholarship at the college and university level
  
• Likelihood of using the diversity of human experience as an educational resource in teaching and scholarship
  
• Membership in one or more of the following groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding:
  
  
  
  • Alaska Natives (Aleut, Eskimo or other Indigenous People of Alaska)
    
  • Black/African Americans
    
  • Mexican American/Chicanas/Chicanos
    
  • Native American Indians
    
  • Native Pacific Islanders (Polynesian/Micronesian)
    
  • Puerto Ricans
    
  
  
  

Applications will be evaluated by panels of distinguished scholars selected by the National Academies.  The panels will use academic records, essays, letters of recommendation, the application itself, and other appropriate materials as the basis for determining the extent to which candidates meet the eligibility requirements and the selection criteria.  The quality of the plan of study or research, the bibliography, the appropriateness of the proposed fellowship activities, the choice of host institution, and the potential for career enhancement will also be carefully reviewed. 
 
Review panels may also look at additional factors such as the likelihood that the applicant will fully utilize 9 to 12 months of postdoctoral support.  


Awards will be made for study in the following major disciplines and related interdisciplinary fields: American studies, anthropology, archaeology, art and theater history, astronomy, chemistry, communications, computer science, earth sciences, economics, education, engineering, ethnomusicology, geography, history, international relations, language, life sciences, linguistics, literature, mathematics, performance study, philosophy, physics, political science, psychology, religion, sociology, urban planning, and women’s studies. Also eligible are interdisciplinary ethnic studies programs, such as African American studies and Native American studies, and other interdisciplinary programs, such as area studies, peace studies, and social justice. Research-based fields of education are eligible if the major field of study is listed above and is used to describe the Ph.D. or Sc.D. program of the applicant (e.g., sociology of education, anthropology and education).
The complete list of eligible fields of study supported at the postdoctoral level of the fellowship program is available here: Eligible Fields of Study List.
Individuals enrolled in the following practice-oriented programs will not be supported: business, management, administration, occupational health, nursing, consumer science, library and information science, speech pathology, audiology, personnel, guidance, social work, social welfare, public health, physical education, physical therapy, kinesiology, rehabilitation science, educational administration and leadership, fine arts, filmmaking, and performing arts. Interdisciplinary areas of study that have major content in ineligible fields listed above will not be included in the competition.
 


Fellowship applicants are encouraged to choose a host institution other than the institution with which they are affiliated at the time of application. Fellowships are awarded for full-time research at appropriate nonprofit institutions of higher education or research, normally in the United States, including universities, museums, libraries, government or national laboratories, privately sponsored nonprofit institutes, government chartered nonprofit research organizations, and centers for advanced study. Each applicant should designate a faculty member or other scholar who will serve as host at the proposed fellowship institution. If affiliating with another institution would create personal hardship, applicants may make special arrangements to travel several times to a research site for data collection or to confer with a chosen adviser.
 
Each applicant must present a clearly articulated plan of study or research that will further his or her career in higher education and should explain fully the particular benefits that would accrue from affiliation with the proposed institution. A fellow affiliating with a foreign institution may be asked to designate a U.S. institution to act as a liaison between the National Research Council and the foreign institution, particularly for handling the disbursement of fellowship funds.
 
The applicant is responsible for making all arrangements for affiliation with the proposed host institution prior to submitting an application.

• One-year Stipend: $45,000
  
• The stipend may be supplemented by sabbatical leave pay or other sources of support that do not carry with them teaching or other responsibilities. Fellowship funds may be disbursed through the employing institution if necessary for the continuation of health insurance or other benefits. No dependency allowance is available.
  
• Expenses paid to attend one Conference of Ford Fellows
  
• Access to Ford Fellow Liaisons, a network of former Ford Fellows who have volunteered to provide mentoring and support to current fellows
  

The tenure of a postdoctoral fellowship will be no less than 9 months and no more than 12 months, with tenure beginning no earlier than June 1, 2015 and no later than September 1, 2015. Postdoctoral fellowships may not be deferred or delayed.
 

Evaluation and Selection of Fellows
Applications will be evaluated by panels of distinguished scholars selected by the National Academies. The panels will use the proposed plan of study, academic records, essays, letters of recommendation, indications of competence, including competence as a teacher, the application itself, and other appropriate materials as the basis for determining the extent to which candidates meet the eligibility requirements and the selection criteria.
 
The quality of the plan of study or research, the bibliography, the appropriateness of the proposed fellowship activities, the choice of host institution, and the potential for career enhancement will also be carefully reviewed.


Those who accept a postdoctoral fellowship must agree to the stipulations in the Terms of Appointment for Ford Foundation Fellows that accompanies the award letter. In addition, Ford Fellows must agree to participate in regular updates of the Directory of Ford Fellows, as well as periodic surveys designed to demonstrate the impact of this program.

Continue to Application Instructions

http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/FordFellowships/PGA_047960