2025-2026 ACA Faculty Fellowship Application Cycle
Our Faculty Fellowship application period is now closed. We anticipate that the Fellowship Review Committee will have award decisions determined by mid-December.
The Appalachian College Association’s Faculty Fellowship Program is the longest-running program of the ACA. It furnishes substantial support toward the professional development of faculty members at its member institutions and is open to all academic areas of study. The Fellowship Endowment is supported by the generosity of foundations, member schools, and individual contributions. The ACA received its first major grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 1991 for continued support of the Faculty Fellowship Program. The ACA completed a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2000, which further boosted the endowment for faculty fellowships and development.
Awards may be provided to faculty in any discipline. Over the history of the program, the ACA has distributed over 600 awards totaling more than $10 million.
Eligible faculty members may seek support through one of three programs:
- Semester Professional Leave Fellowships: Faculty may apply for funding to support professional leave/sabbatical from their institution for a full semester or academic year. An application may seek up to a maximum of $20,000. Semester fellowships in the Arts and Sciences are named in honor of John B. Stephenson, former president of Berea College and, who in 1990, received the first Mellon Foundation grant for fellowships to form the “Appalachian College Program."
- Summer Research Fellowships: Faculty may apply for support for their research during a summer term, up to a maximum of $7,500. Summer Fellowships may include up to $3,750 in stipend support for the faculty member (usually in lieu of summer teaching).
- In-Year Research Fellowships: Faculty may apply for support for release from their standard institutional duties during a semester in the academic year, or over a full academic year, up to a maximum of $10,000.
The length of one's proposal narrative should correlate to the amount of the award requested: Semester Fellowships (maximum of 2000 words); Summer Fellowships (maximum of 1200 words); and In-Year Fellowships (maximum of 750 words).
ELIGIBILITY
- For Post-Doctoral applications, full-time employee with faculty status at an ACA institution for at least two years prior to application
- For Pre-Doctoral applications, any full-time employee with faculty status at an ACA institution
- Return to teach for at least one academic year at the same ACA institution after the year award is funded (Pre-Doctoral recipients who receive an award in their first or second year of service are committed to two years of service after the year of funding)
- Endorsement of chief academic officer
Please review carefully the fellowship policies and procedures before submitting an application. We encourage you also to view the short informational video below. Member institutions are limited to no more than four applications per cycle. Applicants should confer with their Chief Academic Officers prior to submission to ensure common understanding of the proposal/budget and the CAO's support of the proposal. The application cycle for fellowships opens each year in early August, and deadline for fully completed applications is October 31. Award decisions usually are made by early December.
View the Faculty Fellowship Informational Video
(Note: The pre-doctoral eligibility policies have been revised since the making of this video, and these applicants may now apply for a fellowship beginning in their first year of full-time appointment.)
2024-2025 Faculty Fellowship Recipients
The Appalachia
n College Association is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2024-25 Faculty Fellowships. Through this program, the Association will furnish during the 2025-2026 academic year financial support to member institutions’ faculty for post-doctoral research or pre-doctoral degree completion.
This year, 38 faculty members, representing 22 member institutions, are awarded fellowships. Thirty faculty receive post-doctoral fellowships for research projects, while eight receive pre-doctoral awards to support completion of their terminal degrees.
