The Elizabeth D. Rockwell Center on Ethics and Leadership at the Hobby School of Public Affairs will provide funding for UH faculty members to pursue research projects on ethics and/or leadership. Faculty can apply for funds for one of two purposes: 1) to buy out a course during the fall or spring semester to conduct research on ethics and/or leadership; or 2) to pay for research activities or expenses related to an ethics and/or leadership project. Eligible research activities and expenses include paying for a survey or research assistant, traveling and staying in some location to carry out interviews or research, and others. Most research grants will be $10,000 or less. Conference travel is not eligible for this award.

Applications for faculty fellow awards are now being taken for the 2025-26 academic year. The deadline for submission is February 15, 2025. Faculty should submit application materials as one PDF to the EDR Center email address: edrcenter@Central.UH.EDU. Please write in the subject line "Faculty Fellow application," and cc Daniel Engster: daengste@central.uh.edu.

Application materials should include:

• A CV;
• A one-to-three page (no more than 1,000 words) research proposal. The proposal should clearly state whether the faculty member is applying for funds for a course buyout or research activities. For course buyouts, faculty should describe the project they intend to work on with their additional research time. For research activities, faculty should describe the nature of their project, the activities they will engage in, and a provide an estimated budget.
• Faculty who are applying for a course buyout should provide a letter of support from their Department Chair and Dean approving them for a course release for the 2025-26 academic year and indicating the cost of a course buyout.

All full-time UH faculty - tenured, tenure-track, and non-tenure-track - are eligible to apply. Criteria for the award will include:

• Potential of the research to contribute to our understanding of ethics or leadership in some field;
• The likelihood that the research will be published;
• The faculty member’s promise or demonstrated excellence in publishing scholarly works; and
• The faculty member’s commitment (past or future) to publish on ethics and leadership and participate in ethics and leadership activities.

For more information, please contact Daniel Engster at daengste@central.uh.edu.

Revised 8/28/24