Apply to the 2022 Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowship

The NC State University Libraries Special Collections Research Center (SCRC) offers the second annual Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowship. The fellowship was established through the generosity of the Culture & Animals Foundation (CAF) in memory of Tom Regan to promote scholarly research in animal rights. For 2022, the Libraries and the CAF are awarding two fellowships.

Regan Fellowships support the use of the SCRC Animal Rights Archive—the largest scholarly archive of animal rights collections in the country. The SCRC builds collections of rare and unique materials to support the research and teaching needs of the university, emphasizing established and emerging areas at the university and corresponding to strengths within the Libraries’ overall collection. These rich collections serve as a foundation for generations of scholarship in animal protection, impacting and supporting scholars from across the nation.

The Regan Fellowship was first launched in 2019 and was awarded to Rachel Robison-Greene. This year, the Libraries and the CAF will award two fellowships to encourage collaboration between the Fellows, whether in person or remotely, via a final joint presentation. However, this is not a requirement. In addition, the Libraries has acquired new materials since 2019, including an extensive collection of Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Records. Furthermore, thanks to a grant from CLIR, newly digitized records from the ASPCA (only digital assets, no physical materials are accessible) are also available to researchers. 

Each fellowship provides a $4,000 stipend awarded to a qualified applicant for research completed in residence at the SCRC for a term of no less than four weeks to begin on or after July 1, 2022.

Fellowship requirements

• Applicants must submit (via email to gathayer@ncsu.edu) a curriculum vitae; a cover page including name, address, phone, email, institutional affiliation, current position/title, a project outline and rationale for use of the collections; the names of three appropriate references; and a detailed budget. Eligible expenses include lodging, meals, reproduction expenses, travel (air, train, or bus ticket fees; car rental; mileage using a personal vehicle); and parking fees. The university does not provide housing or parking. 
• Graduate (and undergraduate) students should also submit a letter of recommendation from a faculty advisor or thesis director on the significance of the research topic and abilities of the candidate. Other applicants (current faculty) are urged to include a letter of recommendation but it is not required. 
• At the end of the research fellowship, awardees are expected to submit a final report on their research and will be asked to discuss their work by the Culture & Animals Foundation online during their stay or in the future. Awardees should also submit copies of publications that result from their research to both SCRC and to CAF.
• Visas cannot be issued for this type of fellowship

Applications are reviewed and awards made by the Libraries’ Tom Regan Visiting Research Fellowship Committee.

Fellowship deadlines
Applications are due annually by April 30. Awardees will be notified by June 1 for support to begin on July 1 and to be completed by October 15 of the same year.

Contact and submission
Gwynn Thayer, Interim Head, Special Collections Research Center
gathayer@ncsu.edu / (919) 513-3315
NC State University Libraries, Campus Box 7111, Raleigh, NC 27695-7111

About Tom Regan
An internationally recognized scholar, inspiring teacher, and a prolific author, Tom Regan joined the NC State philosophy faculty in 1967, eventually serving as head of the Department of Philosophy and Religion. His 1983 book, The Case for Animal Rights, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and remains a definitive work. Regan’s “War on Vivisection” speech, given at a 1988 rally in Los Angeles, is considered one of the most important animal rights speeches ever delivered, and the Utne Reader named him one of their “fifty visionaries changing the world.”

While on faculty at NC State, Regan also spent time as a visiting scholar at the University of Calgary, Brooklyn College, and Eastern Michigan University, and he received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Humanities Center. After more than 34 years of distinguished service at NC State, he retired in January 2002 to direct the Culture & Animals Foundation, which he and his wife Nancy established in 1985 to expand our understanding and appreciation of other animals and improve the ways in which they are treated. CAF continues to offer annual grants to scholars and artists working on these issues.