New York, New York, June 13, 2023 — Carnegie Corporation of New York announced today that the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program will provide philanthropic support for research that seeks to understand how and why our society has become so polarized and how we can strengthen the forces of cohesion to fortify our democracy.
The program will award research stipends of up to $200,000 to 30 exceptional scholars, journalists, and authors, making it possible for the fellows to devote their time to significant research. For at least the next three years, the foundation will commit $6 million annually to develop a body of research around the root causes of political polarization. This issue is characterized by threats to free speech, the decline of civil discourse, disagreement over basic facts, and a lack of mutual understanding and collaboration.
With the exclusive theme of political polarization in the U.S., the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program starts a new phase under the direction of Dame Louise Richardson, who joined Carnegie Corporation of New York as president in January 2023. The program was established in 2015 to support research in the humanities and social sciences, resulting in 243 fellowships totaling an investment of $48 million to date.
“The fragility of American democracy has been exposed in recent years to a degree that is quite frightening,” said Richardson. “The driving force appears to be the increasing polarization of American politics and, by extension, American society. We would like to understand this polarization, what caused it, what perpetuates it, and above all, how it might be mitigated, or even reversed, by strengthening the forces of cohesion in our society.”
Through the research of the Andrew Carnegie fellows, the Corporation seeks to raise awareness of political polarization in the philanthropic sector, guide public policy, and help inform the foundation’s grantmaking in democracy, education, and international peace and security.
The new theme follows a one-year pause in the program. It will relaunch with the Class of 2024, which will be announced in spring 2024. The fellowships are the most generous of their kind and build on the Corporation’s century-old philanthropic tradition of investing in original scholarly research. The expected outcome is a published book or a significant study, and in recent years, the work of Andrew Carnegie fellows has been widely recognized. Examples include a National Book Award for a study of post-Soviet Russia; a Nobel Prize in Economics for an examination of climate policy; and a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting on civilian deaths caused by the U.S. military. Congressional testimony by fellows has covered topics such as social media and privacy protections; transnational crime; governmental responses to pandemics; and college affordability.
Each year, fellows are nominated by a select group of more than 600 individuals, including the heads of universities, independent research institutes, societies, think tanks, major university presses, and influential publications. Fellows are then selected by a distinguished panel of jurors, chaired by John J. DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, and comprised of academic and intellectual leaders from some of the nation’s most prominent educational institutions, foundations, and scholarly societies.
Learn more about the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program, the work of past honorees, frequently asked questions, and a historical timeline of scholarly research supported by the Corporation.
For further information:
ACFellows@Carnegie.org