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Faculty Fellows

SCP catalyzes W&M’s cultural and historic resources to generate new knowledge and advance understanding. Through partnership we bridge divides and create common ground in order to build a more just world. Strategic Cultural Partnerships transcends the boundaries between past and present, scholarship and practice, and campus and community to illuminate our diverse stories and imagine our collective future.

We support faculty projects that will advance this mission and contribute to the strategic goals of Vision 2026, particularly university efforts to prepare for the Semiquincentennial celebration in 2026. Continuation funding for particularly promising and compelling projects for previous fellows will also be considered.

Review previously funded projects.

Cohort Learning & Knowledge Translation Initiative — Jessie Ball duPont Fund

Strategic Cultural Partnerships (SCP), Â鶹Æƽâ°æ

Application deadline: September 15, 2026   |   Fellowship period: September 1, 2026 – August 31, 2027

The Opportunity

Strategic Cultural Partnerships has received support from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund to serve as the knowledge and learning partner for a cohort of approximately 20 institutions advancing work on history, belonging, and engagement across difference. As these institutions navigate interpretive tensions, community engagement complexities, and capacity challenges, SCP’s role is to make sure what’s learned in one place doesn’t stay there — documenting, synthesizing, and translating insights across the full portfolio.

We are seeking up to three Faculty Fellows to bring disciplinary depth to this work. Working with a lead Graduate Assistant and two graduate Project & Documentation Assistants, Fellows will help SCP surface patterns across the cohort, shape practitioner-facing resources, and connect academic expertise to public-facing practice.

What Fellows Do

Over the twelve-month fellowship period, Fellows will:

• Participate in virtual cohort convenings and a subset of quarterly thematic touch points as observers and contributors
• Be on call for cohort partners’ and graduate students’ questions, concerns, and requests for guidance
• Join periodic documentation conversations with grantee teams — not advisory or evaluative, but designed to surface what’s learnable and transferable
• Co-develop practitioner-facing knowledge products: case studies, how-to guides, discussion frameworks, templates, and diagnostic tools responsive to real-time grantee needs
• Contribute to a year-end synthesis report for the Fund’s leadership
• Meet regularly with the SCP project team to align themes, identify knowledge gaps, and prioritize outputs
• Supervise Graduate Students engaged as part of the project team.

The engagement model is deliberately light-touch. We estimate a commitment of approximately 10 hours/month, concentrated around convenings and product development cycles.

Who Should Apply

We welcome applications from Â鶹Æƽâ°æ faculty and staff with expertise in one or more of the following areas:

• Public history and historical interpretation
• Cultural heritage and museum practice
• Community engagement (particularly Descendant Community members) and dialogue across difference
• Educator development and curriculum design

We are especially interested in colleagues with experience translating scholarship for practitioner audiences, working with cultural or heritage institutions, or facilitating cross-institutional learning. Prior grant experience is not required.

Compensation

Fellows will receive $5,000 for the fellowship period.

How to Apply

Please submit the following to [[dfdevlin01]] and [[mjhofe]] by September 15, 2026:

1. A brief statement of interest (1 page max) describing your relevant expertise and what draws you to this work
2. A current CV or resume
3. Optional: one example of practitioner-facing or public-facing work (a guide, exhibit text, workshop design, op-ed, etc.)

Questions? Contact Danny Devlin, Managing Director, Strategic Cultural Partnerships, at [[dfdevlin01]]