Fellowship Competition Supported by Arthur Vining Davis Foundations Will Provide Access to College and Beyond II Database and Research Support to Scholars Studying the Impact of the Liberal Arts on Students
NEW YORK, Sept. 20, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The American Council of Learned Societies invites applications for the AVDF/ACLS Fellowships for Research on the Liberal Arts, made possible by a generous grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. This peer-reviewed program provides funding and data training for up to five scholarly projects that draw upon the newly available College and Beyond II (CBII) database.
AVDF/ACLS Fellowships for Research on the Liberal Arts will support much needed scholarly research utilizing the extensive CBII database to examine how the liberal arts impact a variety of learners at different stages and aspects of their lives and careers. The CBII database, created by a team of scholars and staff at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan and originally created with support from the Mellon Foundation, includes more than one million student records, 50 million course enrollments, and alumni surveys for 2,800 respondents.
The AVDF/ACLS Fellows for Research on the Liberal Arts will each receive $45,000 toward their projects, participate in a two-day data training in Ann Arbor, Michigan in summer 2024 led by the research team at ICPSR, and convene for a subsequent symposium to share their findings with one another and invited journalists.
Deadline for Applications: December 15, 2023, 9:00 PM EST
Learn more about application and eligibility requirements.
Information sessions will be held for potential applicants with James Shulman, ACLS Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, and Allyson Flaster, Assistant Research Scientist, Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, Institute for Social Research. Register now for webinars on the following dates:
- Tuesday, October 3, 1:00 PM EDT
- Wednesday, October 11, 1:00 PM EDT
- Friday, November 10, 12:00 PM EST
Before the advent of today's powerful administrative data management systems, it was difficult to study the full path of a student's curricular journey – the composition of their classes and the characteristics of their classmates – in the way the CBII now allows; by connecting these textured data on the undergraduate experience to later life outcomes, researchers will have the chance to test the association between educational experiences and understanding later life outcomes. Project proposals from empirical social scientists, humanists, and researchers working outside the arts and sciences, and researchers working outside the academy are welcome.
Proposals should be suited to the methods of research that the CBII dataset can support. Studies with a focus on workforce issues, physical or mental health policy, or civic participation are encouraged. The CBII data are intended to support two broad and mutually reinforcing categories of research aims:
- to provide evidence on relationships between measures of undergraduate educational experience and various outcomes to inform public discussions about the benefits of a liberal arts education and to identify ways that undergraduate instruction can be improved;
- to develop, refine, or test measures of the educational experience that are validated, transferable across institutions, and scalable.
Projects must be based at an institution of higher education, a research organization, a research arm of a government agency, or a nongovernmental, not-for-profit agency in the United States. The PI must have a PhD or other research-appropriate terminal degree officially conferred before September 28, 2022 and have an appointment that is eligible to be a principal investigator at an institution.
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Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 80 scholarly organizations. As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and interpretive social sciences, ACLS upholds the core principle that knowledge is a public good. In supporting its member organizations, ACLS utilizes its endowment and $37 million annual operating budget to expand the forms, content, and flow of scholarly knowledge, reflecting our commitment to diversity of identity and experience. ACLS collaborates with institutions, associations, and individuals to strengthen the evolving infrastructure for scholarship. In all aspects of our work, ACLS is committed to principles and practices in support of racial and social justice.
The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations were organized in 1952 and are supported by two trusts established by Mr. Arthur Vining Davis. The Foundations aim to bear witness to Mr. Davis' successful corporate leadership and his ambitious philanthropic vision. Since their inception, the Foundations have given over 3,800 grants totaling more than $300 million to colleges and universities, hospitals, medical schools, and divinity schools.
Media Contact
Anna Polovick Waggy, American Council of Learned Societies, 212-697-1505, [email protected], https://www.acls.org/
SOURCE American Council of Learned Societies
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