Administrative Services

Things You Need to Know From the Office of Research & Scholarship — Oct. 9, 2026

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It’s been a busy few weeks for research proposals. In just three weeks, the Office of Research & Scholarship supported more than 35 proposal submissions to competitions, including IES, NSF and NIH. Behind that work is a small core team of two editors, three research administrators and our pre-award grants manager, with our special projects lead jumping in to help during this particularly busy stretch.

Thank you to everyone who helped keep proposals moving, and a special shout-out to the ORS team for their flexibility and teamwork across the board. Although we reached the capacity we planned for this submission period, the team rallied to accommodate every request and submit every proposal on time. We appreciate everyone who helped make that possible.

News and Announcements

School of Education faculty and staff have received several awards in recent weeks. We are delighted to highlight this amazing scholarly work—congratulations!

  • Stephen Hilyard received three awards, including Best of Festival, at the 2026 Jane Austen International Film Festival
  • Emily Arthur, Angela Byars-Winston and Li Chiao-Ping received a 2026 Fellows Award from the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters
  • Xueli Wang has been selected as a Fellow of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE)
  • David Williamson Shaffer was chosen to receive a 2026–2027 WARF Named Professorship
  • James Pustejovsky was selected for an H.I. Romnes Faculty Fellowship
  • Taylor Odle was honored with an Early Career Award from the Society for Research on Educational Effectiveness
  • Erica Halverson has been named to the Executive Committee of the Alliance in the Arts for Research Universities (a2ru)
  • Kevin Lawrence Henry, Jr. and Anjalé Welton will be serving as co-editors of the Journal of Research on Leadership Education (JRLE)
  • Hazel Symonette has had an award created to honor her legacy from the Center for Culturally Responsive Evaluation and Assessment. The organization introduced the award at its annual conference this week.

The Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Awards Program is now accepting proposals. These awards are intended to enrich young faculty research and professional growth and lead to new funding opportunities. Each department may submit materials for one faculty member for this internal competition.

Have an idea for technology that could improve older adults’ health, function, or independence? The Community-Academic Aging Research Network (CAARN) invites Education researchers to apply for $50,000 pilot awards to develop or refine prototypes with community partners and feedback from intended users. CAARN anticipates funding up to two proposals, with projects starting as early as July 2027. Letters of Intent are due Nov. 30, 2026; full applications are due Feb. 8, 2027. Explore the RFA or schedule a free consultation to learn more.

The Division of the Arts awards over $120,000 annually to students, staff, and faculty for creative arts research, outreach, and achievement. They are now accepting applications through Dec. 15, 2026.

After more than four decades on campus, Laurie Beth Clark retired earlier this spring. Join her and roughly 110 alumni she taught throughout her career for an exhibition celebrating her impact next week. The exhibition, “How We Got It Together,” will run Oct. 12-18, 2026, across three galleries in the Humanities Building (455 N Park St.) and Art Lofts (111 N Frances St.).

For researchers, few emails carry quite the same emotional weight as a journal’s decision on a manuscript. And when the verdict is “revise and resubmit,” the accompanying reviewer comments can provoke everything from relief to frustration and self-doubt. Xueli Wang of the School of Education recently published a commentary arguing that researchers shouldn’t ignore those emotions and offering suggestions for moving forward productively.

The National Institutes of Health Center for Scientific Review Early Career Reviewer (ECR) Program aligns with NIH efforts to better support early-career scientists. The program allows eligible early-career scientists to serve on NIH peer review panels before earning their first R01 grant or equivalent award. Learn more in their recent news article — How Can I Gain Peer Review Experience as an Early Career Researcher?

UW–Madison’s PARTNERS program provides free, personalized monthly updates via My NCBI to support compliance with the Public Access Policy. Contact Ryan Schryver to learn more.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA) invites applications for the Undergraduate Student Education Research Training Workshop, held Wednesday, April 14, 2027 through Saturday, April 17, 2027, during the 2027 AERA Annual Meeting in Toronto. This workshop is for undergraduate students interested in pursuing a graduate or professional degree that aligns with education research areas such as children and youth, school and schooling issues, higher education, education policy, student achievement, curriculum and instruction, educational psychology, or educational leadership. Students must have current or ongoing research they can present in a poster session.

WISCIENCE is now accepting applications from STEM graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who want to expand their reach beyond the lab by joining three immersive, year-long WISCIENCE Fellow Programs. These programs equip participants with the career-ready skills and experience to make an impact in academic, nonprofit, public sector, or industry roles.

Events and Learning Opportunities

Art Exhibits:

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