Congratulations to the APA grant winners for 2015–2016! The list of eight small and two diversity and inclusiveness grants that have been awarded (as per the APA announcement) is below.
Small Grant Program
Each year, the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association provides $25,000 to the board of officers for the APA’s Small Grant Program. This program offers grants of up to $5,000 for programs benefiting the profession.
This year’s grant application process was quite competitive, with fifteen proposals requesting a total of $77,597 from our $25,000 grant fund. The following eight programs will receive funding:
AAPT Teaching and Learning Summer Seminar
The American Association of Philosophy Teachers’ Teaching and Learning Summer Seminar, attended by twenty graduate students and early career philosophers, is a transformative experience that provides the highest level of teacher training available by and for philosophers. Through readings and interactive experiences, the Teaching and Learning Summer Seminar participants explore issues, experiment with approaches, and engage in a community of reflection in order to strengthen their pedagogical choices. The APA has funded this program at $5,000.
Academic Placement Data and Analysis
The Academic Placement Data and Analysis project (APDA) collects and analyzes information regarding graduate employment in philosophy. In 2016, APDA aims to hire two graduate students to assist with database management and a qualitative survey. The APA has funded this program at $4,887.
Decolonial Feminist Politics: A Decolonial Thought Workshop
Decolonial Feminist Politics: A Decolonial Thought Workshop is a theoretical and practical engagement with knowledge production in academic institutions of philosophy. The workshop is primarily aimed at graduate students and junior scholars, and it seeks to create a space for the rigorous study of theorists who have been marginalized in philosophy, especially women of color theorists. Also, in its attempt to alter the manner in which knowledge becomes constituted through academia, the workshop encourages participants to incorporate marginalized theorists into their own teaching practices, writing, and professional development. The APA has funded this program at $1,500.
Fostering Publication for Early Career Women in Metaphysics
This workshop highlights the scholarship of pre-tenure women working in metaphysics. The workshop builds on initiatives already in place at Fordham University and provides a forum for philosophers to present their work to and receive feedback from the general philosophical public. The APA has funded this program at $1,000.
Philosophy YouTube Pilot Series
John Corvino’s project is to create a pilot series of short YouTube videos on basic concepts, themes, and arguments in philosophy, with titles such as “Why Study Philosophy?,” “The Euthyphro Question,” “What Does it Mean for an Argument to ‘Beg the Question’?,” and so on. The idea is use this medium not only to make these concepts more accessible, but also to promote the discipline of philosophy more broadly. The APA has funded this program at $4,300.
Seminar on Teaching and Learning in Philosophy for High School Teachers
Expanding the AAPT Summer Seminar to include high school teachers accomplishes two goals: it furthers PLATO’s mission of building a national support and resource-sharing network of all those committed to advancing pre-college philosophy, and helps ensure the high quality of pre-college philosophy instruction. The APA has funded this program at $4,500.
UPDirectory
The UPDirectory is the only existing resource listing a significant number of URMs in the profession. It is searchable and easy to use. Most importantly, it gathers in one place access to the work of URMs in philosophy. The APA has funded this program at $1,000 per year for three years for a total of $3,000.
Workshop on Philosophy of Race and Racism
The workshop on philosophy of race and racism will bring together young and established scholars in the field to discuss, in detail, a small number of works in progress with the aim of producing new and exciting research. The APA has funded this program at $1,000.
Diversity and Inclusiveness Grants
The board of officers committed $20,000 for 2015-2016 specifically to support one or more programs aiming to increase the presence and participation of women, racial and ethnic minorities, LGBT people, people with disabilities, people of low socioeconomic status, and other underrepresented groups in philosophy. The board expressed its particular interest in supporting programs that explicitly address more than one type of diversity (e.g., gender and race/ethnicity). Learn more.
A request for proposals was issued early in 2015, specifying that the board sought to fund one project at $20,000 or two projects at $10,000 each. Members submitted 21 grant applications. In the end, the board chose to fund the following two projects for 2015-2016.
Promoting Philosophy for Children at the Mexico-U.S. Border
The Philosophy for Children in the Borderlands program at the University of Texas at El Paso is dedicated to providing free, bilingual (English and/or Spanish) Philosophy for Children classes to children and youth of the Mexico-U.S. Borderlands. The APA has funded this program at $8,000.
Summer Program for Diversity in Logic for Undergraduates
The Summer Program for Diversity in Logic for Undergraduates will offer 12 students the opportunity to explore an exciting research theme in Logic (Paradoxes) in a one-week intensive program. Students will receive tutoring in formal techniques, mentoring, support for professionalization, and experience validation, understanding and advice regarding diversity issues they have encountered. The APA has funded this program at $12,000.
Congratulations to all of the 2015-2016 grant recipients!
Skye C. Cleary PhD MBA is a philosopher and author of How to Be Authentic: Simone de Beauvoir and the Quest for Fulfillment (2022), Existentialism and Romantic Love (2015) and co-editor of How to Live a Good Life (2020). She was a MacDowell Fellow (2021), awarded the 2021 Stanford Calderwood Fellowship, and won a New Philosopher magazine Writers’ Award (2017). She teaches at Columbia University and the City College of New York and is former Editor-in-Chief of the APA Blog.
