Faculty Fellowships

“The Murphy Institute’s Center for Ethics and Public Affairs at Tulane University is pleased to announce residential Faculty Fellowships for the 2009-2010 academic year. These fellowships, made possible by funds from the Tulane Murphy Foundation, are available to support outstanding faculty whose teaching and research focus on ethics, political philosophy, or questions of moral choice in areas such as, but not restricted to, architecture, business, government, law, medicine and environmental policy.” Read the full announcement here, and see below the fold for some further details of which I have first-hand knowledge.

Currently, I’m one of the Faculty Fellows at the Center for Ethics and Public Affairs, and, last year, fellow PEA Brain, Dave Shoemaker, was a Faculty Fellow at the Center. I must say that my experiences so far (minus the evacuation for Gustav and one other minor hiccup) have been outstanding. My family and I are really enjoying New Orleans, and the Center has just been great for me and my research. I know that Dave was also very pleased with the Center, Tulane, and New Orleans. One thing that’s special about this fellowship is that it comes not only with a sizable stipend (which varies according to individual circumstances, but which you can count on covering at least half your salary – and typically your home institution will be willing to cover the other half), but also with a research allowance (to cover such things as travel to conferences) as well as with a monthly housing supplement (that should typically be more than sufficient to cover your monthly rent). They even rent you everything you need by way of furnishings, where this includes not just furniture, but also linens, towels, tableware, pots and pans, a telephone, etc. As I understand it, most other fellowships don’t come with a monthly housing allowance, and I don’t see how I could have accepted a fellowship without a housing allowance, as I was unable to sell my house on the current market and found it difficult to find anyone other than a grad student, who could only afford a rent at well below my monthly mortgage, to rent to for the specific nine months that I’m going to be in residence here at the Center. Also, both the director and the coordinator for the Center are amazingly helpful. They helped me with finding a good pre-school for my daughter, with finding an apartment near the university for me and my family to rent, and even put me and my family up at a ritzy hotel, when the apartment we rented became temporarily uninhabitable for unforeseen reasons. 

Also, if you’re not very familiar with New Orleans, you should know that Tulane is in what’s called Uptown, more specifically, what’s sometimes called the University District. Right across from the Center is a wonderful park: Audubon Park. The park includes a very nice zoo and a golf course. So if you’re only familiar with the French Quarter or Downtown New Orleans and don’t think that you would like to live there or would want to bring your family with you to live there, think again. The city really does have a lot to offer – from the fun debauchery of Bourbon Street to the wholesome family entertainment of going to Audubon Nature Institute’s zoo, park, aquarium, or insectarium.
And, as you may know, food here is fantastic.

If you have any questions, feel free either to email me (at douglas dot portmore at-symbol asu dot edu) or to post a comment. The application deadline, November 17, 2008, is less than two months away. So it’s time to start thinking about this and other fellowships that you might apply to.