Summer 2026 Archives & Open Knowledge Faculty Fellowship – LibraryBuzz

Summer 2026 Archives & Open Knowledge Faculty Fellowship – LibraryBuzz
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Call for Applicants
Application Form:
Applications open March 19
th
and close at noon on April 7
th
2026. Before March 19th, the submission form will not accept submissions, but this is a
pdf
of the application questions for your reference.
Info Session Registration:
There will be four info sessions on March 10th, 12th, 16th and 18th, 2026. We strongly encourage applicants to attend one or more of these sessions to learn more about this opportunity. We will post recordings of these sessions on this page.
Facilitators
Natalie Milbrodt, CUNY University Archivist
Bridget Day, CUNY Digital Archivist
Regina Carra, CUNY Outreach and Processing Archivist
Richard Knipel, CUNY Wikimedian-in-Residence
Overview
The 2026 Summer Archives and Open Knowledge Faculty Fellowship aims to support 14 full-time teaching faculty members with $5000 of summer salary to expand the use of CUNY archival collections and Wikimedia platforms in the Fall 2026 semester. Fellows are required to participate in three day-long workshops at the Office of Library Services 57
th
Street offices and to use the remaining weeks before the start of the Fall 2026 semester to produce
either of the following
Lesson plans, openly licensed and delivered in a reusable format, for a course they teach in the Fall 2026 semester using CUNY archival collections and/or integrating Wikimedia platforms
Public programming that centers CUNY archival collections or Wikimedia related topics. This could be a speaker series, hands-on workshops, walking tours, interactive exhibitions, or other projects that present archival collections and wiki content and practices in meaningful and engaging ways in public environments.
OLS staff will document and disseminate all fellowship projects with funders and the public. The fellowship deliverables (whether lesson plans, recordings of public events, or guides) will be collected in CUNY Academic Works and displayed as part of the CUNY Central Archives website. We also ask Fellows to produce a brief (400 word) blogpost with reflections on their experiences developing their projects and their learning outcomes. Please contact
archives@cuny.edu
if you would like to discuss proposing a project that could only be produced after the Fall 2026 semester. We understand that some courses, for example, are not offered every semester, and want to work with you if possible.
Suggestions as you formulate your project proposal
You are welcome to develop your proposed project using CUNY archival collections and/or Wiki applications of your own choosing. CUNY archives are a rich and diverse collection of primary source materials that can inspire thousands of courses and public programs.
If you would like to use CUNY archival collections in your project, please reach out to the campus contact person listed on
our site
of CUNY archives to discuss your proposal. That archivist must complete this
approval form
to let us know they support your project.
Your project may include:
Using reproductions of primary source materials (photos, correspondence, etc.) in class that you find through research in a CUNY archival collection
Hosting a Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon on a theme connected to your scholarship
Collaborating with a CUNY archivist to host classroom session(s) where students interact with primary sources through document analysis or other hands-on activities
Developing a publication or speaker series based on historical records you have researched in a CUNY archives
Conducting a data analysis project with students using Wikidata
Using archival collections as creative prompts for writing or artworks by students
Exploring contemporary activism through comparisons to historical activist movements documented in CUNY archival collections
Teaching research skills and primary source literacy using CUNY archival collections
Developing department or campuswide event or activity that uses Wiki platforms or CUNY archives
Please note that you must also discuss your proposal with your department chair and ask them to complete this
approval form
to let us know they support your project.
Application
Applications for Archives and Open Knowledge Faculty Fellowship open on March 19
th
and close at
12:00pm (noon), Tuesday, April 7, 2026
. Selection decisions will be made by April 21, 2026, and notifications will be sent to applicants.
Online Info Sessions
are available to familiarize you with CUNY’s archival collections and answer your questions as you generate your proposal. Each of the four sessions (held on March 10th, 12th, 16th and 18th) will feature guest archivists from across CUNY who will share information about their collections and answer your questions.
Selection criteria will include the feasibility of project completion and potential for greater impact, along with considerations such as the diversity of CUNY institutions, discipline areas, and faculty rank. See the rubric below for application criteria.
HIGHEST PRIORITY FOR FUNDING (4)
HIGH PRIORITY FOR FUNDING (3)
MODERATE PRIORITY FOR FUNDING (2)
LOW PRIORITY FOR FUNDING (1)
Criterion: Articulation of Interest
The proposal describes a clear, specific activity or assignment that the applicant is committed to developing for the Fall 2026 semester.
The proposal describes an activity or assignment lacking in detail but with potential to be developed sufficiently to incorporate into the Fall 2026 semester.
The proposal somewhat describes an activity or assignment, but it is unclear about its focus and does not include a plan to incorporate it in the Fall 2026 semester.
The proposal does not describe an activity or assignment, nor a plan for the Fall 2026 semester.
Criterion: Articulation of Goals
The applicant clearly outlines learning objectives, has an assessment plan, and a realistic time-management plan for carrying out the project.
The applicant refers to goals, assessment, and time-management plans but does not articulate them clearly.
The applicant provides one or two of the following: project goals, assessment plan for the project, time- management plan.
The applicant does not provide any of the following: project goals, assessment plan for the project, time- management plan.
Criterion: Articulation of Impact
The proposal demonstrates the importance of the work to engage participants in high impact research-based coursework or programming that is freely accessible and replicable.
The proposal somewhat demonstrates the importance of the work to engage participants in high impact research-based and replicable coursework or programming.
The proposal is limited in demonstrating the importance of the work to engage participants in high impact research-based and replicable coursework or programming.
The proposal provides no evidence of the importance of the work to engage participants in high impact research-based coursework or programming and is not replicable.
The
application form
for the 2026 Archives and Open Knowledge Faculty Fellowship will ask for the following information:
Your name, email, academic rank, discipline, department, and college information.
A description of the proposed project that the applicant seeks to develop for incorporation into a Fall 2026 course or programmatic offering, including a plan for implementing and assessing the project. Must include how you will incorporate CUNY archival collections and/or Wikimedia applications.
The intended learning outcomes for participants.
The potential impact of the project for direct participants and others who might use the materials you have created in the future.
Expectations
If selected, faculty fellows commit to actively participating in all three in-person workshop days at OLS offices on 57
th
Street in Manhattan. They will be responsible for coordinating with campus archivists as needed for research appointments over the summer as they develop their projects. Fellows will implement their teaching and programs in the Fall 2026 semester and will be invited to present a brief overview of their project at a public capstone event in February 2027.
In-person dates:
June 9, 2026
June 16, 2026
August 25, 2026
February 5, 2027 (optional)
Timeline and Deliverables for Faculty Fellows
March 10, 12, 16 and 18, 2026: Info sessions, recordings available afterward
March 19, 2026: Fellowship application opens for submissions
April 7, 2026: Fellowship application due date
April 21, 2026: Decisions finalized. Notice of acceptance emailed by April 22nd
June 9 and 16, 2026: Participation in day-long workshops held at OLS offices
August 25, 2026: Day-long workshop for internal cohort presentations of final materials and plans developed by fellows for their projects, about to be implemented during the fall 2026 semester
Fall 2026: Implementation and documentation of fellows’ projects
February 5, 2027: Day-long symposium with presentations from faculty fellows on their projects
Funding Details
This fellowship is an initiative of CUNY’s Office of Library Services and made possible through the Cultivating Archives and Institutional Memory project funded by the Mellon Foundation and the Wikimedian-in-Residence project, funded by Craig Newmark Philanthropies.
It is intended for full-time teaching faculty eligible to earn summer salary. This will be paid through the Research Foundation.
About this blog
This is the news blog for the Ursula C. Schwerin Library of the New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

The City Tech Library believes in free speech, academic freedom, and the autonomy of library faculty as scholars. The views and opinions expressed on individual blog posts are strictly of their authors.
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