UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Rock Ethics Institute (REI) is now accepting applications for its 2024–25 Faculty Fellows program. The program offers a one- or two-course release from teaching during a single academic year to support Penn State faculty with ethics-related research projects. For each awarded fellowship, the institute will provide up to $10,000 in course buyout funds. This cycle, the REI expects to award two fellowships.
The Faculty Fellows program has been a cornerstone of REI initiatives since the program’s inception in 2015, fostering innovative ethics-related research across disciplines. This program not only encourages interdisciplinary engagement among faculty but also furthers the objective of promoting moral literacy and leadership within the entire Penn State system.
A pivotal aspect of the fellowships is active participation within the Rock Ethics Institute's intellectual community. Fellows are encouraged to join in institute events and showcase their work at public forums.
The institute values projects that complement the research pursuits of the REI’s core faculty and fall within the institute’s research themes of food and agriculture, sustainability, technology, health, gender and sexuality, race, public life and global issues. Collaborations that involve community partners, students or curricular innovations are especially welcome.
Michelle Sikes, assistant professor of kinesiology, African studies and history, and Jeremy Engels, professor of communications arts and sciences, are REI Faculty Fellows for the 2023–24 academic year. During her fellowship, Sikes will explore the ethics of sports boycotts in Africa during the era of Apartheid, while Engels will explore the ethics of mindfulness.
All career-level Penn State faculty are eligible to apply for Rock Ethics Institute Faculty Fellowships.
The deadline for applications is Nov. 1. Successful applicants will be notified by Dec. 6.
Please direct questions about Faculty Fellowships or the application process to Ben Jones, the assistant director of the Rock Ethics Institute, at btj7@psu.edu.
The Rock Ethics Institute was established in 2001 through a $5 million gift from Doug and Julie Rock. The REI’s mission is to promote engaged ethics research and ethical leadership from its home in Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts.