Call for Participation
Anti-Racism Research Fellow
Overview of the Collaboratory Research Fellowship Program
The Collaboratory Research Fellowship program recognizes exemplary and emerging scholar-practitioners who are committed to advancing the field of community engagement. Fellows explore research and programmatic efforts that enact Collaboratory’s mission and support member institutions and the broader field of higher education community engagement. The fellowship is designed to give practitioner-scholars a national platform to pursue research and programmatic ideas that correlate with ongoing Collaboratory initiatives.
About the Anti-Racism Research Fellow
Higher education is uniquely positioned to stand and fight against systemic racism and work toward agendas promoting a more equitable society. The descriptive data Collaboratory collects across its membership (currently 26 institutions) has the potential to powerfully illustrate concrete examples of how anti-racism is operationalized via community engagement and public service work conducted by faculty, staff, and students, across a broad range of intersectional issues (poverty, homelessness, workforce development, etc.). As higher education begins to shift away from reflection and towards action, examples of how anti-racist work actually manifests through community-university partnerships will be critical to help position - through research and action - higher education’s role in developing a more just and equitable society for all.
Before we can operationalize anti-racism, it must be defined in ways that can be measured. Our goal is to inform how institutions can:
- intentionally incorporate anti-racism work into efforts across campus
- hold our institutions accountable in more deliberate ways, with data
- chart a path to do this within individual institutions and as a larger field
To these ends, Collaboratory seeks to support an anti-racism research fellow who will work to develop criteria for what “anti-racist community engagement” looks like - what common characteristics, principles, focuses, etc. are present when engagement is conducted with an anti-racist lens?
Funding
Fellows are eligible to receive a $2,000 research award to support their efforts. Funds may be used for any expense judged supportive of the fellow’s research including staffing, conference/presentation support (e.g., registration fees), project expenses, equipment, or salary support.
Roles & Responsibilities
Fellows lead projects that typically last 3-6 months and utilize de-identified data from Collaboratory institutions, or pursue relevant ideas and questions in partnership with campuses within and beyond our membership. In collaboration with Collaboratory staff, fellows are expected to develop:
- a concise description of the project and how it will be carried out, including timelines, stakeholders, and resources required
- specific outcomes and how they will be measured
- a statement of the eventual impact and value of the project
- a public deliverable to disseminate findings (presentation, publication, report, etc.)
Eligibility
Collaboratory is open to working with faculty, staff, or graduate students at an accredited and U.S. based institution of higher education who have experience with or expertise in community engagement and/or equity, diversity and inclusion. We would very much like to support scholars who identify as black, indigenous or persons of color (BIPOC), although this is not a requirement of the fellowship.
To Apply:
Applications are due no later than 11:59pm EST on Friday, October 2, 2020. We do not expect interested applicants to have the details of their ideas fully fleshed out - that is something we are excited about developing in collaboration with the fellow. We do, however, ask that your letter of interest begin to address or respond to the roles and responsibilities fleshed out above.
Do you have questions or need additional information? Please email Kristin Medlin, Director of Research, kmedlin@cecollaboratory.com.
