Resident Scholar Application

Application Information for Academic Year 2024-25

Each year the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics hosts one or two UO faculty members as Resident Scholars. This grant supports research related to the Wayne Morse Center theme of inquiry or its Program for Democratic Governance. Resident Scholars work with the Wayne Morse Center Faculty Codirector and Senior Scholar to conduct research or other professional activities that contribute to the scholar’s own work and the Wayne Morse Center’s programs.

Objectives of the Resident Scholar Program

  • Stimulate and support research and programming related to public affairs and the Wayne Morse Center theme of inquiry
  • Enhance UO faculty participation in Wayne Morse Center activities
  • Deepen the intellectual and academic environment of the Wayne Morse Center

Applications for the 2024-25 academic year are due on Friday, January 12, 2024 at 5 pm. Applicants may submit proposals related either to the Center’s 2023-25 theme, “Defending Democracy,” or to the wide range of questions about public policy and civic engagement addressed by the Program for Democratic Governance.

Research Priorities
The Wayne Morse Center theme for 2024-25 will be “Defending Democracy.”

We will explore the crisis of democracy by reckoning with problems and considering solutions. Problems include the attacks on government institutions and the dysfunction of political parties and media. We will ask how to sustain the habits and values of democratic culture: equality as well as freedom, civil dialogue, rule of law, civic engagement, inclusion, and the possibility of shared reality and justice. At a time when rage and polarization threaten to overwhelm the public square, how can we strengthen the shared commitments and build the trust that will sustain our democracy into the future?  

The focus of this theme will be on democracy in the United States but we embrace opportunities to examine comparative and cross-cultural perspectives. Areas of particular interest include:

  • Voting and elections (the role of money and media, reforms to the Electoral College, gerrymandering, and voter suppression)
  • Partisan polarization (the role of religion; racial grievances; rural/urban divisions)
  • Anti-democracy movements and political violence
  • Education for democracy (What should every child and adult know about democracy and how should that knowledge be taught?)

The Center aims to examine these and other questions through visiting scholars and activists, public events, and support for student and faculty research.

Program for Democratic Governance
This ongoing program focuses on significant political and policy issues in the United States at the national, state, and local levels, as well as global affairs. Research projects that examine important questions and challenges for American democracy and international relations are strongly encouraged. Resident Scholar proposals related to the Program for Democratic Governance should address one of the following research priorities:

  • The politics of international migration
  • Partisan and ideological polarization in American political life
  • Criminal justice reform
  • Income inequality
  • Climate change
  • Campaign-finance reform
  • Civil liberties and civil rights
  • Religion and American public life

Eligibility and Stipend
The Resident Scholar program is open to tenured and tenure-track faculty at the UO. Faculty must be employed by the UO during the year of the scholarship. Faculty members on sabbatical leave may also be eligible to apply, but they must be in Oregon and interact with the Wayne Morse Center during the fellowship year.

Each Resident Scholar will receive a $10,000 award. (Additional funds for OPE will not be added.) The award is for the fiscal year 2024-25 and will be paid directly to the Resident Scholar’s department. The award can be used in a number of ways, depending on the desires of the Resident Scholar and his or her department or school.

Duties and Conditions

  • Resident Scholars will undertake research or other professional activities such as completing a paper suitable for publication, editing papers for a book, and/or organizing a public symposium under the auspices of the Wayne Morse Center.
  • The project must be related to public affairs or the current Wayne Morse Center theme, and interdisciplinary in nature.
  • Resident Scholars will participate in the intellectual life of the Wayne Morse Center, including assisting with the theme of inquiry or the Program for Democratic Governance, interacting with visiting scholars, selecting future Resident Scholars, and advising the center on symposia and events.
  • Resident Scholars will present at least one public lecture or seminar, or participate in a public event related to their research.
  • Resident Scholars will represent the Wayne Morse Center at university and public events as appropriate and feasible.
  • Resident Scholars will acknowledge the Wayne Morse Center in all publications and events related to the research and activity supported by the center and will collaborate with the center to publish and disseminate their work. In relevant email correspondence and announcements, from the podium, in publicity and elsewhere as appropriate, we ask Resident Scholars to identify themselves as a Wayne Morse Resident Scholar.

Application Process

Applications must be written in language accessible to readers from several disciplines and must include the following:

  • Application information, including abstract
  • Narrative description (not to exceed 1500 words)The narrative description should include the following points:
  • Conception and definition of the project: An explanation of the basic ideas, problems or questions to be addressed, and the form of the project (such as book, article, or symposium).
  • 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: Be as precise as possible about the plan of work and objectives for the term of the scholarship year. Is the work already in progress? What specifically will be accomplished? How will the results be disseminated?
  • Contribution to the Wayne Morse Center: How your work relates to other Center activities and how you propose to interact with the Wayne Morse Center. Funds are available for a small symposium or workshop if desired by the Resident Scholar.
  • Bibliography or Citation List, as appropriate (one-page limit)
  • Curriculum Vita, two-page limit 

Submit an Application

Application Deadline
Applications are due by Friday, January 12, 2024 at 5pm. Awards will be announced by mid-February 2024.

Selection Committee
The selection committee will be interdisciplinary and drawn from the following positions and committees: the Wayne Morse Center faculty codirector and senior scholar, the Wayne Morse Center Advisory Board, the planning committee for the relevant theme, and current or past resident scholars.

Please direct questions to Ellen Herman, Wayne Morse Center Faculty Codirector, eherman@uoregon.edu.