The Lender Center for Social Justice Seeks Applications for Its Next Faculty Fellow

The Lender Center for Social Justice is seeking applications for its 2020-2022 faculty fellow.

The Lender Faculty Fellowship will support a two-year research agenda to critically and creatively explore contemporary social issues, develop innovative approaches to these problems and implement useful and sustainable initiatives.

The selected faculty fellow will work with a team of student fellows to create an interdisciplinary research team focused on the proposed social issue. The Lender Symposium will serve as the culmination of the two-year projects with invited national guests and experts participating in a thorough discussion of the research and proposals developed by the Lender fellows’ team.

Faculty applying for the Lender fellowship should be dynamic and accomplished scholar/teachers who are committed to an agenda of engaging issues relevant to social justice. They will be expected to foster an interdisciplinary team that will simultaneously encourage student learning and growth and the pursuit of concrete engagement with real-world problems.

The faculty fellow will receive research support for both years of the project, a summer stipend and additional resources to facilitate the development and execution of their project as well as to publicize the results.

“We see the faculty fellow project as a unique opportunity to push our thinking about social justice and, at the same time, help students across the University see ways they can engage with social justice issues,” says Kendall Phillips, professor of communication and rhetorical studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. Phillips and Marcelle Haddix, dean’s associate professor and chair of reading and language arts in the School of Education, are the center’s co-directors.

Faculty fellows will be expected to propose a clear issue/problem that will sustain the two-year research/engagement project; be committed to working closely and openly with the student members of the team; develop partnerships with other faculty and entities on campus to support the project; develop partnerships with other entities and communities relevant to the research; and pursue additional external sources for funding and support of the project.

Faculty fellows will receive formal designation as a Lender faculty fellow; a $5,000 stipend to cover their work during the summer between year one and year two; research funds of up to $5,000 for each year of the project; additional funds of up to $5,000 for the Lender Symposium at the culmination of their project; and support from the Lender Center staff.

Faculty applications and supporting materials are due to the Lender Center by 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14, and must include:

• a completed application form with detailed project proposal;
• a letter of support from the faculty member’s chair/director, sent to lendercenter@syr.edu; and
• supplemental materials as appropriate, either submitted with the application or sent separately to lendercenter@syr.edu.

With an enduring underlying mission to develop ethical and courageous citizens, The Lender Center aspires to become nationally recognized for encouraging creative and critical engagement with social justice. It supports innovative and multidisciplinary research of contemporary social problems while providing proactive and concrete approaches and solutions. Its members and partners develop collaborations that broaden just and undaunted engagement between students and citizens.

The Lender Center was established on the Syracuse University campus in September 2018. Life Trustee Marvin Lender ’63 and his wife, Helaine (Gold) Lender ’65, turned their lifelong commitment to social justice and greater understanding among people into the establishment of a multidisciplinary center, managed and housed in the School of Education. The couple provided a $5 million gift in support of the creation of the center.