About The Program

Since 1996, over 100 BGSU faculty members have completed ICS fellowships. The projects of ICS faculty fellows broadly demonstrate the power of innovative humanities work to expose, address, and respond to complex social problems. Faculty fellowship work has focused on topics such as human trafficking in Costa Rica, the opioid crisis, teaching the Holocaust, forgotten Black composers of classical music, the history and legacy of the 19th Amendment, and many others. We invite you to explore past projects at the bottom of this page. We hope these examples spur innovative ideas for ICS fellowship projects. 

About the Program

Each year up to four BGSU faculty members may receive an ICS Fellowship to pursue community-engaged interdisciplinary research, pedagogical, or creative work for one semester. During the award period, Fellows are freed from teaching and service responsibilities so that they may devote unimpeded time to their projects.

ICS supports interdisciplinary projects in areas where external funding is likely to be limited. We especially encourage applications from Qualified Rank Faculty (QRF) who have few institutional resources to support scholarly and creative work, as well as tenure-track assistant professors early in their careers. 

We are unable to support the following: projects of a purely scientific, technological, or quantitative nature; projects centered on academic unit curriculum (such as a revised major/minor); projects without a community engagement component; or projects from scholars external to Bowling Green State University.

Eligibility

All full-time BGSU faculty members who have successfully completed one Enhanced Performance Review (EPR) are eligible to apply for a fellowship. Awards to untenured (probationary or QRF) faculty are contingent upon reappointment.

Faculty who have previously received an institute award must wait at least five years before reapplying. No more than two faculty from one department or program may be in residence at ICS in any given academic year. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received an ICS Fellowship.

Expectations of the Program

During the award period, recipients are expected to collaborate closely with a community partner, participate actively in the intellectual community at ICS, and offer at least one public event sharing their work. Meaningful public engagement requires purposeful interaction between university and community populations, with the goal of generating tangible, mutual benefit. ICS aheres to an expansive notion of community engagment which may include communities beyond Northwest Ohio. 

Fellows remain on regular academic-year salary throughout the award period. Instructional units receive compensation to offset the release time of selected faculty (a maximum of $5,000 for a one-semester residency in all cases). 

ICS Fellows are asked to acknowledge the role of the institute in publications and creative projects that result from their residency. An ICS fellowship award may be combined with a one-semester Faculty Improvement Leave for a two-term residency at ICS.