Taft Center Fellows

The Taft Center Fellows program provides the opportunity for Taft faculty to complete and prepare for publication significant research projects in a multi-disciplinary setting. Taft Center Fellows will receive a department research assignment for the entire academic year to the Taft Center. The goal of the program is to fulfill the challenge of our founder Annie Sinton Taft, set forth in her 1930 bequest, to bring about a “concentration of interest... in the development of ideas.” In this vein, recipients are expected to be active Center members and interact regularly with other Taft Fellows to advance their own work and the work of others. The program is not designed to support an isolated independent pursuit of one’s research agenda (see Faculty Release and Summer Fellowships for such support), but rather to support faculty who will benefit from and contribute to multi-disciplinary interaction. While the specific research project for the year need not be interdisciplinary in nature, the faculty member must be committed to intellectual exchange beyond his or her own research project and contribute to the intellectual community of the Taft Center.

Eligibility

All full-time faculty in Taft departments and other full-time A&S faculty whose principal area of expertise and terminal advanced degree is covered by the Taft bequest are eligible. Although no preference will be given to faculty rank, it is expected that applicants will have a demonstrated ability to complete significant research/creative projects before the time of their application, exclusive of degree thesis/dissertations. The fellowship is not appropriate for projects that demand periods of time spent away from the Taft Center. Selected Center Fellows are not eligible to apply again for five academic years.


Applications

SIX COLLATED COPIES of the application packet should contain the following:

1. Cover Sheet

2. A proposal of 1000 to 1400 words that outlines the research project in detail, including but not limited to the following:

1. a justification of the project as a major work that will result in significant contributions to the applicant's field and an explanation of how this project fits with the applicant’s established record of research. The applicant should explain in clear, accessible language to the Center Fellows Committee, which will include individuals outside of the applicant's discipline, where his or her work fits within the scholary literature of the applicant's field.
2. an explanation of how the project may be moved forward through the specific experience of serving as a Taft Center Fellow and how the applicant might contribute to a multi-disciplinary intellectual environment
3. a project schedule that details how the project will be completed during the Center Fellowship year
4. an explanation of the proposed format for final publication/performance

3. A letter of support from the applicant's department head assessing the merits of the proposed project and the prospects for completion within the Center Fellowship year. The letter must commit the Department to a full-year research assignment, which releases the faculty member from teaching and administrative duties. Department Heads may support multiple applications.

4. Two letters from outside experts (mailed directly to the Taft secretary) in the applicant's field evaluating the merits of the proposal, its significance to the field, and its prospects for publication/performance upon completion.

5. A two page curriculum vitae that has been updated within the past month.


Criteria for Selection

One goal of the fellowship selection process is to create a community of scholars in residence across the spectrum of Taft academic fields. Proposals will be judged according to the following:

1. The quality of the applicant's work as a scholar or creative writer as evidenced by previous publications and research activity.

2. The potential contribution as an active Taft Center Fellow to the multi-disciplinary environment of the Center and the Center’s likely impact on the applicant.

3. The significance of the contribution that the proposed project will make to thought and knowledge in the field of the project.

4. The conception, definition, organization, and description of the proposed project.

5. The current state of the research, the schedule to do the research, and the commitment to complete the project as a Center Fellow.

6. Evidence of productivity from any Taft grants in the past five years.

7. The manner in which the application fulfills the stated requirements.


Terms of the Grant

1. Center Fellowships are awards for one academic year. Acceptance of the Fellowship requires release from regular faculty duties during the entire academic year, including department, college, and university administrative service.

2. Center Fellows must attend a regularly-scheduled seminar lunch once every two weeks at Taft House at Stratford Heights for intellectual exchange. The Center will support the lunch.

3. Center Fellows must agree to use the Taft Center Fellow’s offices that each Center Fellow will receive as their principal work area in order to foster regular contact among our Fellows. The Center will arrange movement of faculty materials to these offices.

4. Other than attending professional meetings and/or brief research trips outlined in the original proposal, time away from the Center should be avoided during the Fellowship year.

5. Center Fellows are encouraged to be active participants in events associated with the Center and must prepare a research presentation for our annual Spring Taft Symposium.

6. Fellows agree to acknowledge support received from the Taft Fellowship in any publication/ performance resulting from the fellowship project.

7. Department heads must commit to sustain their curriculum. Taft Department Release Support may be used for this purpose.

8. Center Fellows agree to serve in a pool of reviewers for three years during which time they may be asked to serve on the Center Fellows Committee to select new Fellows.

9. Publications and creative work generated with the help of Taft grants should acknowledge the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center. Copies of such publications should be sent to the Chair of the Taft Executive Board.