Process and Procedures for Nominations for the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program

Purpose of Award

The 2026 Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program provides philanthropic support to scholars and writers for high-caliber research in the humanities and social sciences. The Carnegie Corporation of New York plans to award around 30 fellowships of up to $200,000 each to extraordinary scholars, authors, journalists, and public intellectuals.

The goal of the program is to help Americans understand how and why our society has become polarized and what can be done to strengthen the forces of cohesion. The foundation is interested in solutions-focused, pathbreaking research from across the humanities and social sciences which may be relevant to polarization and social cohesion in America today. Political polarization is characterized by threats to free speech, the decline of civil discourse, disagreement over basic facts, and a lack of mutual understanding and collaboration. Studies of polarization in other countries are welcome, provided they offer lessons that can be applied to the United States.

Detailed information about the program can be found on the Carnegie Fellows Program website. More information about the Carnegie Corporation of New York and program background can be found on the Carnegie Corporation website.

Award Information

  • The $200,000 funds can be used for travel, hiring research assistants, and sabbaticals.
  • The funding is for a period of one or two years with the anticipated result of a book or major study, i.e. recipients have the choice of a 12-month or a 24-month fellowship.
  • The fellowship must begin on the first of the month between July and September of 2026.
  • It is not possible to defer the start of the fellowship. It must begin no later than September 1, 2026.

Eligibility

To be eligible, Kansas State University nominees must have a PhD, hold a terminal degree other than a PhD, or be a high-level professional with exceptional experience that qualifies them as a senior professional or intellectual.

Kansas State University may nominate up to two candidates —one tenured and one untenured.

  • Tenured candidates are faculty members who have completed the university’s tenure review process and currently hold tenured appointments.
  • Untenured candidates may include faculty on the tenure track who have not yet received tenure or faculty who are in a non-tenure track appointment.

Internal Deadline for Nomination Submissions: Monday, September 29, 2025

K-State’s University President may forward a maximum of two candidates, one tenured and one untenured scholar, for consideration for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Fellow Program.

  • An internal competition will be held and all interested applicants should submit their application following the guidelines and instructions below by no later than 5pm on Monday September 29th, 2025.
  • K-State’s two finalists must submit their final application, the research proposal, and other relevant materials via Carnegie’s online platform by no later than 5pm EST on Friday November 7th.

Nominations

  • If you are interested in being considered for the internal competition, please submit all your nomination materials (including Dean’s support letter) following the guidelines below by no later than 5 pm on Monday September 29th to the Provost via Microsoft Form. If you have questions regarding the process, please reach out to provounivawards@k-state.edu.
  • To ensure your application materials are submitted on time, please send them to your Dean by Wednesday, September 24. This will allow your Dean to prepare their letter—co-signed by your Department Head—that you will submit with your application materials.

Your application materials for the internal selection process must include:

    1. A 3–5 page, double-spaced prospectus describing the project, including a projected work plan and approximate time frame.
      1. The fellowship must begin on the first of the month between July and September of 2026.
      2. Note that the Carnegie program allows flexibility in how you manage your time commitment. You may opt for a regular fellowship leave, or decide to teach part-time during the semester while working full-time on your project during the summer.
    2. Curriculum vitae
    3. Estimate of budgetary requirement. Funds may support: salary and fringe benefits, project-related travel (research, conferences), research assistants (hourly or stipend), other project needs (i.e., data collection, surveys, transcription, project supplies, consultant, contractual service/s, etc.).
    4. Letter of Support from your College Dean co-signed your Department Head.

The Carnegie jury will evaluate nominations by the following criteria:

  • Originality and promise of the idea
  • Quality of the proposal
  • Promise to offer solutions to harmful polarization or to enhance social cohesion
  • Record of the nominee
  • Plans to communicate findings to a broad audience

Review Committee and Approval Process

A selection committee composed of University Distinguished Professors will review the applications and select one or two candidates to recommend to the President by October 27th.

The nominee(s) will work with the Office of Academic Affairs and Innovation to complete the full application process so they may directly upload their application to the Carnegie Corporation of New York’s website by the deadline of November 7th , 2025 (5:00 P.M. EST).