KIE

Deadline: September 15, 2021

Team Kenan is a part of the Kenan Institute for Ethics’ social and intellectual community, creating spaces for students, faculty, and Institute staff to think and talk about ethics outside of the classroom in fun and engaging ways.

Team Kenan serves as a complement to the Institute’s curricular offerings, giving students who are interested in ethics additional opportunities to chat, think, and challenge one another and the wider Duke community.

The team, made up of a diverse cross-section of Duke students, engages the Duke community through “couching,” Kenan’s mobile living room. Team Kenan members invite students to sit and discuss selected topics related to ethics. Meant to inspire spontaneous, unplanned moments of connection, the TK Couch brings ethical inquiry (and comfy chairs) to Duke students wherever they might be.

In addition to couching, Team Kenan also plans and participates in other events in coordination with the staff at the Institute. Team Kenan members are expected to be part of the Kenan community, which involves becoming familiar with and participating in Kenan’s wider programming.

Members of Team Kenan will develop interviewing and surveying skills, learn methods for effective communication in conversation, writing, and design, work on personal and professional presentation, and take part in event planning.

Team Kenan participants will receive a $1000 honorarium per term. The renewal of the contract for the spring semester is not automatic; members will be invited to continue as fellows based on their December evaluations.

Fellowship Activities

• Lead Team Kenan “couching” sessions throughout Duke’s campus
• Develop interviewing and surveying skills, learn methods for effective communication in conversation, writing, and design, and take part in event planning
• Plan, participate in, and serve as ambassadors for Kenan’s wider programming

Award

$1,000 honorarium

Deadline

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 (11:59 PM)

Application

Learn more and submit the online application form.

Questions

Contact Michael Grigoni at michael.grigoni@duke.edu.

Deadline: July 30, 2021

Each year, the Kenan Institute for Ethics awards between 10 and 15 fellowships to outstanding graduate students at Duke University.

Students from any Duke graduate program may apply. What each cohort of Graduate Fellows will have in common is that their dissertation research engages in interesting ways with significant normative issues. Some students, for example – from disciplines such as philosophy, political theory, or theology – focus directly on fundamental ethical or political concepts and theories. Other fellows, from the sciences and social sciences, try to understand phenomena that are relevant to major, and often controversial, public policy debates. Still others attempt to resolve debates in their areas of research that seem to be sustained by long-standing disagreements over both empirical claims and ethical or ideological commitments.

The aim of the ongoing discussions throughout the year, among the Fellows and KIE faculty members, is to enhance everyone’s ability to contribute to debates involving ethical issues, and to do so in ways that engage scholars and others within and outside of their own academic disciplines.

Ideal Graduate Fellow candidates will be in the third, fourth, or fifth year of their Ph.D. studies, finished all (or almost all) of their coursework requirements, but still developing new ideas and approaches for their dissertation research. Fellows each receive a stipend of $3,000 that supplements their current funding.

Graduate Fellows meet virtually for a Monday seminar about a dozen times across the Fall and Spring semesters. These seminars often feature visiting speakers and do not typically require preparation in advance. There are also two half-day workshops – one at the end of each term – in which Fellows showcase their own research.

To apply: e-mail the application, along with a copy of your CV, to ada.gregory@duke.edu with the subject line “Graduate Fellowship.”

DEADLINE: 12 NOON, FRIDAY, JULY 30, 2021.

For further information, email ada.gregory@duke.edu with “Graduate Fellowship question” in the subject heading.

Deadline: July 31, 2021

Each year, Religions and Public Life at the Kenan Institute for Ethics (KIE) funds a Graduate Student Working Group around a theme important to religion and public life. The program has made Immigration and Religion a focus of its current interests, and this year’s group will continue the work begun in 2020-21. Members of last year’s group are welcome to reapply but preference will be given to new applicants.

2021-22 Overview and Theme

The call is open to graduate and professional students wishing to take part in monthly interdisciplinary student-led seminars on “Immigration and Religion.” A wide variety of projects exploring this theme are welcome, including topics such as: Immigrant Religion, the Place of Religion in the Support of Displaced Communities, Religious Activists and Immigrant Rights, Religion in the Refugee Crisis, Migration and Theology, and Religion, Migration, and Identity.

Religions and Public Life at the Kenan Institute for Ethics explores the role of religions in historical and cultural context as they influence the lives of their adherents, interact with each other across time and geography, and contribute to the formation of institutions that make up the public sphere. It provides an interdisciplinary platform that puts scholars, students, and practitioners in conversation with one another through collaborative research, innovative teaching, and community engagement. Funding for the graduate scholars also comes from generous support from the Duke Center for Jewish Studies (CJS), the Duke University Middle East Studies Center, and the Gerst Fund.

Expectations

The graduate scholars will have the opportunity to develop their research interests and discuss recent scholarship. Members take active part in the events of Religions and Public Life and commit to attending monthly meetings throughout the academic year. Graduate scholars will write a think-piece or blog post relating their research to contemporary issues, to be published on the Religions and Public Life website at the Kenan Institute for Ethics. Additionally, scholars will take part in an end-of-year research conference. Scholars receiving CJS or DUMESC funding are expected to participate in at least two CJS or DUMESC events, respectively, during the academic year.

Funding

Graduate scholars receive $1,250 for full participation. The sum is provided in two payments, one in November and one in April.

Application and Deadline

To apply, please submit the materials listed below to Gair McCullough by 11:59 on July 31, 2021, with the subject line: “Religions & Public Life Graduate Scholars.” Awards will be announced by August 15.

• Curriculum vita
• Project description (1-2 pages) describing how it connects to the theme of “Immigration and Religion.” Please include your topic and research objectives.
• Research budget

For further information, email Gair McCullough with “RePLi Graduate Fellowship Question” in the subject heading.

Deadline: February 17, 2021

What does it mean to live an ethical life?

Kenan Summer Fellows spend a summer exploring—in a variety of ways—the answers to that question. Between five and six fellows receive up to $5,000 and their faculty mentors will receive $500 to support their project and spend eight consecutive weeks between mid-May and mid-August, 2021 exclusively on the project.

Eligibility

• The program is open to Duke undergraduates who are in their first or second year of study at the time of application; preference given to Ethics & Society Certificate students.
• Student with ALL backgrounds, experience and interests are encouraged to apply.

Application Information

• Applicants must submit a three-page proposal (12 point Times Roman maximum, single spaced, 1 in. margins) outlining their summer project.  Proposals should include what they mean by living an ethical life, a detailed explanation of the project and how it addresses the issue of living an ethical life, the overall project significance, in what ways they are prepared for this project, dates of project and a detailed budget. Here is a sample proposal outline.
• Proposals must include a cover page indicating the student’s graduation year and project title.
• Applicants must list the name of a faculty member that will serve as their mentor for the project. This should be agreed upon before the application is submitted, as well as a plan for interaction throughout the course of the summer (e.g. weekly phone calls or Zoom check-ins).
• Applications are due February 17, 2021 at 5pm. Applications must emailed to kie@duke.edu. No late applications accepted.
• A final decision will be made by February 19, 2021.
• Note that funds from KSF cannot be combined with any other Duke summer research or fellowship resources.
• If you are conducting research, you are required to go through the Campus IRB. We encourage you to start this process as soon as possible to avoid any delays in receiving your funds should you receive the fellowship.

Check out some past Kenan Summer Fellows blogs and more information about the program here.

Deadline: August 12, 2020

A Fellowship Made Possible by The Duke Endowment in Collaboration with the Kenan Center for Ethics

What Is the Race and the Professions Fellowship?

The Race and the Professions Fellowship is a year-long program made possible by The Duke Endowment inviting Duke graduate and professional students to explore challenges of racial inequities and the work of anti-racism in the professions.

In the last few months, everyday life in America has been both undone and unveiled. Basic rhythms have been upended even as centuries-old injustices have come center stage in a new way. In particular, COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd have laid bare longstanding racial disparities. While what comes next is hard to discern, we know that it is unacceptable to go back to the way things were.

What does this mean for the professions? More specifically, what does this mean for the profession you, as a Duke graduate or professional student, are pursuing in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the School of Medicine, the Duke-NUS Medical School, the School of Nursing, the Fuqua School of Business, the School of Law, the Divinity School, Pratt School of Engineering, or the Sanford School of Public Policy?

How have the events of the last six months exposed long-standing racial injustices in your profession of choice, and what does that mean for the future of the profession and for your aims of working within it? These questions sit at the heart of the Race and the Professions Fellows Program.

Who Should Apply?

What Race and the Professions Fellowswill have in common is a desire to explore the purpose of their profession and how to be a good person within it, in light of anti-racism and racial justice work. All graduate and professional school students at Duke may apply, and we anticipate a diverse cohort of Fellows.

Fellows will each receive a stipend of $3,000 for the 2020-2021 academic year. Fellows will also be invited to apply for additional funding to support summer projects that give students a sense of the possibilities for purpose in their profession through ‘‘on-the-ground’ experience of antiracism and racial justice work.

How Often Will Race and the Professions Fellows Meet, and What Will It Entail?

Race and the Professions Fellows will meet about a dozen times across the Fall and Spring semesters. Sessions will feature visiting speakers and will not typically require preparation, although at times brief readings may be distributed in advance.

Conversations will move between analyzing the structures of racial injustice in a field and reflecting on how one might purposefully work within it. Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between racial justice and the professions in Durham.

Fellows who pursue a summer project will be asked to showcase their work in Fall 2021. Sessions will occur online, with the possibility for in-person gatherings if a safe pathway becomes clear in the course of the year.

How Do I Apply?

To apply: e-mail the application to A.J. Walton at awalton@div.duke.edu with the subject line “Race and the Professions Fellowship.” Deadline: 12 PM, Wednesday, August 12, 2020