Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences

Call for Applications 2025 - The Diversity Institute

Fellowship Opportunity

Online applications due December 11, 2024. The letter of support is due December 13, 2024.

The application portal is available at: https://applycasbs.stanford.edu/diversityapplication

Summer Institute for Behavioral and Social Scientists

Institute on Diversity: Why & How Difference Makes a Difference

June 2025

Leadership

Director: Mary Murphy (mcmpsych@indiana.edu), psychology, Indiana University, CASBS fellow 2015-16

Director: Sylvia Perry (sylvia.perry@northwestern.edu), psychology, Northwestern University, CASBS fellow 2022-23

Co-Leader: Zachary Ugolnik (zugolnik@stanford.edu), Program Director, CASBS

About the CASBS Summer Institute on Diversity

The third annual summer institute on Diversity: Why & How Difference Makes a Difference, at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences on the Stanford University campus, is currently accepting applications for the summer of 2025. 

There are two important dates in the application process: (1) the online application is due December 11, 2024; (2) the letter of support is due December 13, 2024. We’ll aim to announce fellowship awards by email in early March. 

The institute will convene for 1-2 weeks sometime between June 16, 2025 to June 27, 2025.

Topics and Purpose

The CASBS Summer Institute on Diversity has a dual mission. Substantively the Institute engages in field building around social scientific investigation of why, how, and when difference makes a difference. In doing so, the institute develops an on-going collaboration and support network of emerging scholars from backgrounds underrepresented in higher education.

The Diversity Institute is loosely modeled on CASBS’s prior successful multi-year summer programs, such as “Organizations and Their Effectiveness” and “Contentious Politics.”  The Institute brings a small group of early-career scholars (postdoctoral fellows through pre-tenure faculty) with interests in diversity-related scholarly issues to CASBS for one-to-two weeks of intensive training and interaction with established scholars whose theoretical, methodological, and substantive expertise relates to the core questions of why and how diversity and difference matters. As with other CASBS summer programs, the Diversity Institute will partner with multiple academic organizations in order to develop a diverse community of participants who can support and work with each other, both during their time at the Institute and afterward.

Over the course of the institute, participants will both interact with the senior faculty and create multi-disciplinary communities of practice examining questions of mutual interest. Funding permitting, we hope to eventually invite participants to join convocations that bring together all previous years’ cohorts. In this way, CASBS will become a hub where the emerging network can flourish. These ongoing interactions should both facilitate participants’ career advancement and stimulate new contributions to this field, borne of the knowledge shared and the connections made at the training institute. 

Application

The application portal is available at: https://applycasbs.stanford.edu/diversityapplication

The application includes four parts: 

  • (i) Application form 
  • (ii) Curriculum vitae
  • (iii) A single pdf document including:
    • Personal statement (up to 750 words): Please describe how participation in the Institute on Diversity will advance your research and career goals. 
    • Project description (up to 750 words): Please describe one of your current or planned projects that relates to the study of diversity.
  • (iv) One Letter of Recommendation 
    • Recommendations will be treated confidentially and submitted through our secure application system. Once you have completed your application an automated email will be sent to your references with instructions for how to submit their recommendation. Once your letter is submitted, you will receive an automated email notification. Please submit your application with sufficient time for your recommender to meet the application deadline. 

The deadline for the online application (i,ii,iii) is December 11, 2024. Once you submit the online application, your referee will receive an email to upload the letter of support (iv). Letters of support are due by December 13, 2024. Please ensure your referee has sufficient time to meet the deadline for the letter of support.

The application portal will be available soon at:

For logistical inquiries and application questions, please contact casbs-summerinstitute@stanford.edu. For questions regarding the institute, please contact CASBS Program Director Zachary Ugolnik (zugolnik@stanford.edu)

Eligibility

Those eligible to apply include post-doctoral fellows who have secured tenure-track jobs and those who will be pre-tenure faculty at the time of the institute from the social and behavioral sciences and allied professional schools. For our purposes, the social and behavioral sciences include the core social science disciplines (e.g., anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology, and sociology) as well as those who study the human behavioral or social dimensions of other fields. We are also interested in applications from scholars affiliated with four-year colleges and with colleges and universities attended predominantly by minority students.

Location

The Center is located on a hillside overlooking the Stanford University campus. Comfortable studies in beautiful surroundings will be provided.

Support

Admitted applicants will be offered support to cover major travel expenses (within the usual university-mandated constraints on travel expenses). Lodging will be provided, and the majority of meals will be covered. Though not required, any financial contribution from a participant's home institution or their personal research funds that support conference travel and lodging would be greatly appreciated and help ensure the long-term viability of the institute.

For a two-week institute, for instance, about twenty thousand dollars is needed per participant. Thus, any contributions to travel and lodging costs are helpful, such as covering: the ground transportation and baggage fees stipend ($250); domestic flights from the east coast (~$1000); domestic flights from the West Coast (~$700); lodging for 1 week or 6 nights ($1200); lodging for 2 weeks or 14 nights ($2800).

Funding for the Institute has been provided by the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation, but these funds do not cover all our needed expenses.

SELECTION OF COMMENTS FROM PARTICIPANTS IN PREVIOUS SUMMER INSTITUTE

2024

“Attending the CASBS Summer Institute on Diversity was an experience unlike any other… I highly recommend applying to anyone who would like to be part of a community of like‐minded scholars that can support and thrive together.”

                                                                        -Daudi Van Veen (Assistant Professor, Utrecht University)

“This institute is a must do for all early career researchers focused on diversity, racial inequality, or intergroup relations! The community at the institute is unlike any other academic community I've been a part of.”

 -Kiara Sanchez (Assistant Professor, Dartmouth University)

“This affirming and validating space helped to remind me more clearly of my purpose in this career, and provided me with thinking partners with similar values to help me develop the work.”

 - Malik Boykin (Assistant Professor, Brown University) 

“Being part of the Diversity Institute was a professionally and personally transformative experience for me, and it has really clarified and strengthened my research agenda.”

- Tina Law (Assistant Professor, UC Davis)

“Mary, Sylvia, and the staff at CASBS have created something special for early‐career academics who often find themselves on isolated islands within their respective institutions.”

- Jonathan Gordils (Assistant Professor, University of Hartford) 

“The CASBS Diversity Institute was a truly transformative experience. It is not often that you get to be in conversation with and learn from other junior scholars from different fields who are dedicated to advancing diversity science.”

 - James Carter (Assistant Professor, Cornell University) 

2023

"The Institute on Diversity felt like the first time I could breathe as an academic. The first time that I have been in a room with people that do not question why I do the work that I do, but instead push me to make it better. It feels cliche to say that this experience was transformative, but that is what it was. I feel so empowered to be all of me in academia, and I thank Mary, Sylvia, Jenn, the visiting faculty, and the people I was there with. As long as I have these people with me, nothing can stop me."

- AIván Carbajal (Assistant Professor, Oregon State University) 

"The Summer Institute on Diversity at CASBS was a soul-fulfilling and transformative experience. It was incredible to be in a space where everyone was brilliant, generous, committed to impact, and kind. There was always such constant joy, and I left feeling empowered and equipped to tackle faculty life and all that it brings. Thank you to the organizers who made this all possible!"

- Edward Chang (Assistant Professor, Harvard Business School)

"The Institute empowered me to continue studying diversity, and it affirmed the value of my research and my whole self. I had often felt lost and invisible in academia, but the organizers made sure we were all seen. I made invaluable connections with other faculty of color across disciplines who I might not otherwise know. The sense of comradery and community that we built played a huge part in my decision to stay in academia."

- Jin X. Goh (Assistant Professor, Colby College)

"I left the institute feeling inspired and reenergized by all the conversations that took place, the people I met, and the beautiful setting. It was a retreat of sorts for me, a place where I could focus on the aspects of my work that I find most meaningful, connect with people who understand the value of diversity, and make lasting friendships. It was also great to learn about the work that is happening across disciplines on the topic of diversity, and the information I gained has factored into the work that I am doing now."

- Heidi A. Vuletich (Assistant Professor, University of Denver)

"World-class mentoring, camaraderie with peers from across the country, and the opportunity to hear cutting-edge research made the diversity institute a generative experience that has strengthened my scholarship and my vision for what's possible in academia."

- Oneya Okuwobi (Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati)

"For a Black Island girl, double Historically Black College and University (HBCU) alumnae and now professor at an HBCU, the CASBS Summer Institute on Diversity was a Mind-Blowing and Life-Changing experience for me! To be surrounded by such excellent colleagues and scholars who were all dedicated to and passionate about their work on diversity science, was like no other. To see how each of our work added a unique yet important piece to this very important puzzle was inspiring! To have the ability to 'sit at the feet of giants' in their various fields, ask questions and then break bread with them, was priceless! The deep contemplation about my own work, research and professional path combined with the professional development opportunities that I received while at CASBS allowed me to leave with much more clarity than I came in with around my next steps and the importance and value that my work has and will bring to the field. And last but certainly not least, the lifelong friendships that I developed, the community of scholars, the academic siblings, uncles and aunties that I gained will inevitably serve me, as we serve one another, as I navigate my life as a scholar of diversity science! CASBS was Mind-blowing and Life-Changing!"

- Afiya Fredericks (Assistant Professor, University of the District of Columbia)

The application portal is available at: https://applycasbs.stanford.edu/diversityapplication