Visiting scholar
Purpose
The purpose of a visiting scholar varies, depending upon the institutions and individuals involved, but is generally a way to foster networking among faculty members, facilitate collaborative research projects, and as a means of professional development for young scholars at the host institution. The positions may also be used as a way to try out a faculty member to see how they may fit into a more permanent position.
Individual or programs
Visiting scholars may be invited to visit a particular institution, or some programs exist that place multiple scholars at a network of institutions. In other cases universities may set up an ongoing program of sharing faculty members by having pairs of faculty change places for a year.
Refresh and reinvigorate
After being at the same institution for a number of years it can be extremely refreshing and rejuvenating to work at another campus for a while. Interacting with new ideas, engaging in new dialogue, and being challenged with new questions all serve to deepen and enrich intellectual engagement with a topic under study. Junior faculty members will enhance their chances of being involved in such visiting scholar programs by keeping engaged in the dialogue in their area of interest, connecting with scholars at other campuses, and seeking ways to collaborate.
Examples of Visiting Scholar Opportunities
Visiting Scholars Program
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
This site offers application guidelines for a program to support young public policy analysts, humanists, and social scientists who show promise of becoming leaders in their field.
Visiting Scholars
Research Policy Handbook, Office of the Vice Provost and Dean of Research, Stanford University
This site outlines the criteria for an appointment, procedures, intellectual property agreements, and privileges associated with visiting scholars from or to Stanford University.
Visiting Scholars Program
Russell Sage Foundation
This foundation has established a center where visiting scholars can pursue their writing and research, inviting a number of scholars to New York each year to investigate topics in social and behavioral sciences.
Professional Partnership Program
Visiting Scholars Association
This association was established in 2001 to assist scholars to come to America. It takes care of details such as airport pick-up, immediate housing, and the basics of getting settled, through offering a warm welcome, and opportunities for professional and social interaction in the community.
Visiting Scholars
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
Visiting scholars are a valuable component of the research effort at the New York Fed, strengthening the links between staff economists and their peers at universities. Scholars may visit the Bank on an ongoing basis for one day a week, or for one-time periods of a week, semester or year.
DRCLAS Visiting Scholars and Fellows Program
David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University
This program selects a number of visiting scholars and professionals who spend one or two semesters at Harvard working on their own research and writing projects. Interested faculty members apply annually and are selected by qualifications, research plans and relevance to the mission and objectives of the Center.
ODPHP Visiting Scholar
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
This program invites public health experts such as college and medical students, primary care residents, and those working in the area of preventative medicine to assist in the implementation of Presidential and Secretarial initiatives, experience first hand the basis for national policy decisions, and assist preparing briefings for the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Surgeon General.
Visiting Scholar Program
Phi Beta Kappa Society
This program makes available a dozen or so distinguished scholars who visit 48 colleges and universities for one or two days each to meet informally with students and faculty members, take part in classroom discussions, and give a public lecture open to the entire community. It is designed to contribute to the intellectual life of the campus through the exchange of ideas.
Visiting Scholars
The Hastings Center, a nonpartisan research institution dedicated to bioethics and the public interest since 1969
Visiting scholars come to the center from all over the world to conduct independent research on issues in or related to bioethics. Scholars and practitioners from academia, law, medicine, and the media, along with students in the humanities, sciences and the professions are invited to participate. The Center is located in rural New York, in a beautifully renovated mansion.
