Applications are now open for the academic year 2009-10
Applications are due by Noon, Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Dissertation Fellowship for 2010-11 will also be focused
on the Climate Ethics and Climate Equity theme. Dissertation Fellows
will be selected and notified by mid-February.
There are (3) three documents you will need to review and/or download:
1. 2009-10 Dissertation Fellowship Instructions (this page)
2. 2009-10 Dissertation Fellowship Application Checklist
3. 2009-10 Dissertation Fellowship Cover Sheet
Each year, the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics, with the support of the Graduate School, supports two graduate students while they conduct research and write dissertations related to the Wayne Morse Center theme, Climate Ethics and Climate Equity. Each Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellow receives a stipend of $3,000 for one academic term, in addition to a tuition waiver. Note that the Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellowship program for
2010-11 will also focus on Climate Ethics and Climate Equity.
Objectives: The objectives of the Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellowship program are to support graduate students conducting research related to the Wayne Morse Center theme of inquiry, enhance UO graduate student participation in Wayne Morse Center activities, and deepen the intellectual
and academic environment of the Wayne Morse Center.
Wayne Morse Center Theme and Activities for 2009-2011: The Wayne Morse Center theme for the two academic years 2009-2011 is Climate Ethics and Climate Equity. The Wayne Morse Center themes are selected to advance interdisciplinary research and teaching at the UO and engage the broader public on critical issues. An interdisciplinary faculty committee provides guidance on the theme.
The inquiry into Climate Ethics and Climate Equity is intended to build on the broad discussion underway on climate change by focusing on its ethical dimensions and the myriad equity issues that local, regional, national and international communities will face. During the two-year inquiry, we aim to discuss the overarching ethical issues involved with climate change as well as solutions that focus on equity, both domestically and internationally.
Each year one or more scholars and activists will occupy the Wayne Morse Chair of Law and Politics. Dale Jamieson, a philosopher and Director of Environmental Studies at New York University, will be in residence at the UO during the Fall 2009 term. He is working on a book entitled The Moral and Political Challenges of Climate Change, arguing that approaching climate change in political and moral terms will help contribute to solutions but will require us to revise some central concepts related to moral responsibility and global justice. Law Scholar Maxine Burkett has been invited to visit the School of Law during Fall 2010. She is in transition from the University of Colorado Law School to the University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law. At UH she will also be the inaugural director of the Island Resiliency and Climate Policy Center. Currently, her work is in “Climate Justice,” writing on the disparate impact of climate change on poor and of-color communities and the United States’ moral and legal obligation to these communities, nationally and internationally. International activist and physicist Dr. Vandana Shiva will make a short visit to the UO during winter term 2011. She has contributed scientifically and as an activist on issues of agriculture and food, bioethics, globalization and the worldwide impacts of climate change. She recently released Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis.
The Wayne Morse Center will convene events on key topics and invites proposals for research, new classes and projects through the Resident Scholar, Dissertation Fellowship and Project Grant programs. Our priority focus topics within the broad theme include:
- Our ethical responsibility to nature and nonhuman species and the
role of science in the ethical discussion about climate change;
- Race and socio-economic class equity and “green jobs;”
- Collective and individual solutions from an equity perspective;
- Intergenerational equity and acting for future generations;
- International equity issues and perspectives from other countries;
- Legal forums and policies that will be needed to deal with ethical and equity issues of climate change and its impacts;
- Traditional knowledge, preserving cultures, indigenous approaches to environmental stewardship, and issues of land equity;
- Developing and communicating a public philosophy of climate change, including moral and religious sources.
Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellowship applicants can propose scholarly activities that complement or supplement the focus topics described above. The theme of inquiry is broad and is intended to include topics and issues from many academic disciplines.
Eligibility and Stipend: The Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellowship program is open to all graduate students at the UO who are engaged in research and writing of the dissertation from any academic discipline. Preference will be given to students who will not hold a GTF appointment, other fellowship, or training grant during the term of the Fellowship. Preference will also be given to students who have an accepted dissertation proposal. Each Wayne
Morse Dissertation Fellow receives a stipend of $3,000 for one academic term, in addition to a tuition waiver.
Duties and Conditions:
- Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellows will undertake research for or
writing of the dissertation.
- The dissertation must be related to the relevant Wayne Morse Center theme and interdisciplinary in nature and interest.
- Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellows will participate in the intellectual life of the Wayne Morse Center in appropriate and feasible ways. For example, Fellows might give a paper at a Wayne Morse Center Symposium or assist with hosting a visiting scholar.
- Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellows will acknowledge the Wayne Morse Center in all publications and events related to the research and activity supported by the Center.
- Wayne Morse Dissertation Fellows must be present at the UO during the term of their fellowship.
Selection Process: The Dissertation Fellowship Selection Committee is interdisciplinary and drawn from the following positions and committees: the Wayne Morse Center Director, the Wayne Morse Center Advisory Board, and the Wayne Morse Center’s Climate Ethics and Climate Equity Planning Committee. The committee will review all applications in late January 2009. Dissertation Fellows will be selected and notified by mid-February.
Application Process: Applications must be written in language accessible to readers from several disciplines. The complete application must include the following parts:
- Completed application cover sheet including an abstract.
(available for download HERE)
- Narrative Description not to exceed 1500 words.
The Narrative Description (Part 2) should include the following points:
- Conception and Definition of the Research or Dissertation:
An explanation of the basic ideas, problems or questions to be addressed.
- Significance of the Project: Relationship to your previous and future research, and the relationship of the project to work of other scholars.
- Plan of work and expected results: Candidates should be as precise as possible about the plan of work and objectives for the term of the
- Fellowship year. Is the work already in progress? What specifically will be accomplished? When do you expect to complete the dissertation?
- Contribution to the Wayne Morse Center: How your work relates to other Center activities and your interest in the activities of the Wayne Morse Center.
- Bibliography or Citation List, as appropriate, not to exceed one page.
- Curriculum Vitae, not to exceed three pages.
- Letter of recommendation from your dissertation advisor.
Application Submission: Mail or deliver the original plus six (6) collated and stapled copies of the complete application packet to:
Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics
220 Knight Law Center
1221 University of Oregon
Eugene, Oregon 97403
Double-sided copies are encouraged.
If necessary, the letter of recommendation from may be provided separately.
Deadline: Applications are due by Noon on Wednesday, January 21, 2009.
Please direct questions to Margaret Hallock, Wayne Morse Center Director, (541) 346-3699 or hallock@uoregon.edu. For general information about the Wayne Morse Center, visit www.waynemorsecenter.uoregon.edu.
