APPLICATION FOR RETURNING HOST ORGANIZATIONS
Public Fellows Program 2015-2016
Sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
The ACLS Public Fellows program provides recent PhDs in the humanities and humanistic social sciences with the opportunity to embark on careers outside of academia.[1] The two-year professional fellowships place fellows in non-profit and government agencies where they participate full time in the substantive work of the organization. The fellowship provides an annual stipend of $65,000 and contributes up to $7,000 each year toward the host institution’s costs of providing health insurance for the Public Fellow. Public Fellows selected during the 2015-16 competition will join host organizations in mid-summer or early fall of 2016. An organization may apply to host a subsequent fellow only after the first hosted fellow has completed his/her term.
Applicants to the Public Fellows Program will undergo a first-round peer review by a committee of humanities PhDs working in a variety of non-academic fields. Finalists identified by this process are forwarded to the host organization for a second round of review before an offer is made by ACLS. This multi-stage review process ensures that each fellow meets the high standards of the program and will be a good match for the host organization.
If you wish to be considered as a returning host organization for an ACLS Public Fellow, please complete the following questionnaire. The purpose of the questionnaire is to reacquaint ACLS with your organization and to provide you with up-to-date, detailed information on the responsibilities of being a host organization for a Public Fellow. We ask that you limit your answers to a paragraph or less, except where specifically indicated.
1. Name of Organization:
Location (please provide the primary location and any subsidiary locations):
Contact Person:
Name:
Title:
Email:
Telephone:
Is this a government or a non-profit agency?
2. Please provide us with background information on your organization by answering the following questions (1 page maximum).
a. What is the organization’s mission and primary focus?
b. When was the organization founded?
c. How is the organization funded?
d. How is the organization structured? Please attach an organizational chart if possible.
e. How large is the staff overall (full-time employees) and at the site where the fellowship will take place?
f. How many staff members have advanced degrees (MA, PhD, JD, etc.)?
3. While fellows work full time alongside professional staff and are expected to assume professional-level responsibilities, they are participants in a fellowship program and are not permanent employees of the host organization. As such, they are not necessarily eligible for the same benefits as permanent regular employees. Please answer the following questions:
· ACLS provides two annual payments to the host organizations from which the organization pays the fellow’s stipend through its payroll.
Is your organization able to remit the fellow’s stipend through its payroll department? (Yes ☐ No ☐) If no, explain why.
· The stipend for fellows is set by ACLS at $65,000/year.
Is the stipend commensurable to the pay of employees on a similar level of responsibility?
(Yes ☐ No ☐) If no, please provide us with information on pay structure.
· As health insurance plans and costs vary widely among host institutions, ACLS will contribute up to $7,000 per year to defray the cost that the institution incurs by providing health care to the fellow. The fellowship does not provide health benefits for members of the fellow’s family. It also does not require other fringe benefits such as disability, long-term care, retirement contributions, etc. Health coverage must commence no later than one month after the fellow’s start date. (Please select the start date according to your organization’s timeline for providing health insurance for the fellow.)
Is this arrangement acceptable to your organization? (Yes ☐ No ☐)
If you have answered “yes” to the above, is your organization capable of separating out health insurance as the only benefit available to the fellow? (Yes ☐ No ☐)
If you have answered “no” to the above, is your organization willing to assume the costs of providing additional benefits? (Yes ☐ No ☐)
· Prior to joining your organization, will the fellow require security clearance or undergo a background check? (Yes ☐ No ☐) If yes, please explain the requirement and procedures, and timeline involved.
4. While ACLS provides significant financial support for Public Fellows, please be aware that participation in the program as a host organization is not without cost. Host organization contributions include:
· A one-time, $9,000 placement fee payable within two weeks of the fellow’s start date.
· Payroll taxes (including employer FICA contribution), annual health insurance premium costs in excess of ACLS’s $7,000 contribution, and any additional costs incurred by providing optional fringe benefits to the fellow.
· Staff time and expertise, including significant supervisory and mentoring responsibilities.
· Resources associated with hosting a fellow on-site, including requisite office space (Public Fellows may not work remotely), office equipment, travel funds (if travel is required), etc.
· Access to vacation and sick leave commensurate with employees at the fellow’s relative professional rank (NB ACLS does not require that such leave is provided as a benefit that accrues from year to year or that can be redeemed at the end of the fellowship.).
Have you verified with your human resources or finance office that your organization is capable of covering the costs listed above? (Yes ☐ No ☐)
Please list the name and contact information of the colleague with the relevant contracting authority below.
5. The Public Fellows Program is a career-building opportunity for recent PhDs in the humanities who have elected to pursue careers in the non-profit or government fields. While ACLS can provide the placement and financial support, it is the responsibility of the host organization to provide the challenges and opportunities that will ensure that fellows grow, mature and succeed in their positions, and are able to embark on careers in their chosen fields after the completion of the fellowship.
· The following is a list of skills. Please check the skill/skills the fellow will gain over the course of the fellowship at your organization. (You are welcome to include a narrative explanation as well.)
☐ Advocacy ☐ Assessment ☐ Budgeting
☐ Communications ☐ Development/fund-raising ☐ Digital innovation
☐ Digital publishing ☐ Employee supervision ☐ International affairs
☐ Legislative ☐ Liaison ☐ Lobbying
☐ Negotiation ☐ Planning ☐ Policy analysis
☐ Project development ☐ Project management ☐ Research/writing
☐ Strategic analysis ☐ Other:
· Is your organization willing to provide opportunities for the fellow to develop the skills necessary for success in the position and to develop the networks needed for building a career? Please check what opportunities would be available and provide at least one example of how you would do this.
☐ In-house training and orientation
☐ External advancement opportunities (e.g. conferences, classes, meetings, travel)
ACLS requires that each fellow be assigned a supervisor to oversee the fellow’s work and a separate mentor to be a sounding board and to offer career advice. The mentor should stand outside the formal reporting chain of the fellow. Are you prepared to provide the fellow with a supervisor AND a mentor? (Yes ☐ No ☐)
If you have answered yes, please identify a potential mentor and explain his/her role within or external relationship to your organization.
· While the majority of our fellows continue on with their host organizations beyond the two-year term of their fellowships, we understand that this might not happen in each case. How did your organization approach the task of preparing your earlier fellow to pursue his/her chosen career path after the fellowship?
· How would your past experience hosting an ACLS Public Fellow inform your approach to hosting a second fellow?
6. As the fellowship provider, ACLS requests regular updates and reports from the supervisor of the Public Fellow on his/her integration into the organization and professional development. This includes a) a professional development plan developed jointly by the supervisor and fellow, submitted within 45 days after the fellowship begins; b) a 3-month performance review; and c) two annual performance reviews.
Is your organization willing to adhere to the fellowship’s reporting requirements? (Yes ☐ No ☐)
7. Each application must provide descriptions of 2 positions in separate offices or divisions within your organization that an ACLS Public Fellow might assume. The descriptions should not exceed 2 pages in length and must include the following information:
· Position title
· Department/Office
· Location
· Name of potential supervisor (if known)
· Host office mission and overview
· Position description and primary responsibilities
· Required and preferred qualifications
· How does this position relate to the one taken up by your organization’s earlier fellow?
The position should be appropriate in level for a recent doctoral degree recipient. Positions that require a PhD in a specific discipline or disciplinary subfield are not appropriate for the Public Fellows program. You can find examples of previous position descriptions on the ACLS website (www.acls.org/programs/publicfellows/).
If you have questions, please contact John Paul Christy, director of Public Programs, at .
Final decisions on the list of host institutions for the 2015-16 competition will be communicated to all institutional applicants no later than December 2015.
Thank you for your interest in the American Council of Learned Societies’ Public Fellows Program.
The Public Fellows Program is sponsored by the American Council of Learned Societies with generous funding by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
[1] Fellows’ PhD fields may include the following: American studies; anthropology; archaeology; art history, architectural history; classics; film; geography; history; languages and literatures; linguistics; musicology; philosophy; political science; religious studies; rhetoric, communication, and media studies; sociology; and theater, dance, and performance studies. Partner organizations may not limit themselves to considering PhDs in any subset of these fields.