THE FACULTY SCHOLAR
Who Should Apply for the Junior Faculty Scholar Opportunity?
Junior faculty who are assistant or associate professors on tenure track are invited to apply as a Faculty Scholar. Junior faculty who are probationary career status lecturers, instructors or clinical assistant professors on the clinical educator track are also eligible for this program. Junior faculty are limited to participating in the Summer Academy up to three times. Any junior faculty who participated in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025, is eligible to apply again unless they have already met the three-time only participation threshold. Full-time junior faculty members who apply must be interested in enhancing their scholarly agenda through the process of writing or creating, reflecting, and receiving critical feedback in a summer-long faculty development learning community.
The key components of the Summer Academy include coaching through the writing or creating process of a publication or creative work; interacting with peers in small accountability groups; attending required retreats; participating in brown bags to help with research, writing and overall development as a member of a learned community; and whenever possible having fun with other colleagues in the Summer Academy.
In the Summer Academy, junior faculty will commit to writing and submitting a piece for publication or producing a creative work for submission to a juried show or other exhibition opportunity, exhibition design, or a musical/theatrical recording/performance. A small stipend will be provided to each Faculty Scholar who successfully completes the program with a submitted piece for publication or exhibition consideration.
Although junior faculty from all disciplines are encouraged to apply, we strongly encourage faculty from Fine Arts, Humanities (English, Classics, and Foreign Languages), History, Philosophy, Sociology, African Studies, and Afro-American Studies to participate in this Summer Academy. The Summer Academy promotes cross-disciplinary collaboration and coordination throughout the program and it is important to have these disciplines represented in the scholarly community.
Finally, faculty members who take part in this opportunity must commit to attending all mandatory activities in their entirety. The full schedule for the 2026 Summer Academy is provided on page 6.
A Successful Faculty Scholar (Junior Faculty) Application
To be considered for the Summer Academy, the faculty member must submit an online application and an abbreviated CV (only 5 pages) by Friday, March 20, 2026, 5:00 p.m. using the InfoReady platform.
A successful Faculty Scholar applicant for the Junior Faculty Writing and Creative Works Summer Academy will possess the following:
- A current project that can be developed into a solid piece of writing ready for publication or a creative work ready for submission and review by the end of the program. For written projects, an abstract must be included with the application. For creative works projects, a project description, including materials, methodologies, outcomes, etc., must be included with the application. Important Note: If you are still collecting data during the summer program then your project is not ready to be completed during this program.
- A commitment to the writing and/or creative process;
- A commitment to submit assignments and meet all deadlines of the Summer Academy;
- A commitment to submit a final product (summer project) to their Scholar Coach and the Office of Faculty Development on or before Friday, August 28, 2026, by 5:00 p.m.; and
- Proof that the final product was submitted to a publisher or appropriate external party for the creative work to the Office of Faculty Development by Friday, September 25, 2026, by 5:00 p.m.
Each junior faculty member accepted in the Junior Faculty Writing and Creative Works Summer Academy benefits from the following:
- An encouraging environment to work on and complete a journal article, monograph, or book chapter;
- An encouraging environment to develop and work on a creative work;
- An Opening Retreat and a Research Retreat where everyone comes together to build a network of scholars on whom you can rely and to work on scholarship;
- A Scholar Coach from Howard University who will offer feedback and advice throughout the writing and/or development process for your creative work;
- Information from experienced colleagues about successful strategies to achieve scholarship objectives;
- Interdisciplinary opportunities catalyzed by faculty interactions across disciplines; and
- A network of colleagues across the University to support you beyond the Summer Academy.
FACULTY SCHOLAR APPLICATION and AN ABBREVIATED CV are due by Friday, March 20, 2026, 5:00 p.m.
Apply on InfoReady at: https://howard.infoready4.com. Use your Howard University email address and password to log in (SSO).
