Education research—Spencer Fnd

Spencer Foundation Dissertation Fellowships for Research Related to Education 

A Program of The Spencer Foundation

 Through the Foundation’s Dissertation Fellowship Program, approximately 35 non-renewable fellowships of $20,000 are awarded each year. The Dissertation Fellowship Program seeks to encourage a new generation of scholars from a wide range of disciplines and professional fields to undertake research relevant to education. The Foundation believes that insights from many research traditions can contribute to an understanding of education as a fundamental human endeavor and advance our ability to address significant current issues in education. Therefore, the Spencer Dissertation Fellowships support individuals whose dissertations show potential for bringing fresh and constructive perspectives to the history, theory, or practice of formal or informal education anywhere in the world. 

Funding Priorities. Although the dissertation topic must concern education, graduate study may be in any academic discipline or professional field. In the past, fellowships have been awarded to candidates in anthropology, architecture, art history, economics, education, history, linguistics, literature, philosophy, political science, public health, psychology, religion, and sociology, but eligibility is not restricted to these academic areas. Candidates should be interested in pursuing further research in education once the doctorate is attained. 

Eligibility. Applicants must be candidates for the doctoral degree at a graduate school in the United States. These fellowships are not intended to finance data collection or the completion of doctoral coursework, but rather to support the final analysis of the research topic and the writing of the dissertation. For this reason, all applicants must document that they will have completed all pre-dissertation requirements by June 1 of the year in which the fellowship is awarded, and must provide a clear and specific plan for completing the dissertation within a one or two-year time frame. 

Restrictions. Fellows’ stipends are to support completion of dissertation work and are to be expended within one or two years and in accordance with the work plan provided by the candidate in his/her application. Fellows may not accept employment other than as described (if any) in the application, nor may they accept other awards providing duplicate benefits without the written permission of the Spencer Program Officer. 

Application Procedure. Fellowship applicants must request current application forms and instructions by October of the year prior to the year in which the fellowship is to take effect. Students must submit their completed applications by a mid-October date designated each year. Awards are announced in April. 

Inquiries concerning the Dissertation Fellowship Program should be addressed to: Dissertation Fellowship Program, The Spencer Foundation, 875 North Michigan Avenue, Suite 3930, Chicago, Illinois 60611-1803. Application materials may be downloaded from the Spencer website: www.spencer.org. 

Deadlines  

Requests for required application forms must be received by October 5, 2001. 
Completed applications must be submitted by mail and postmarked by October 17, 2001. They may not be submitted electronically. 
Notification of awards will be in April, 2002.
Tenure of awards may begin no earlier than June 1, 2002. 

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