Bannan Research and Teaching Fellows
The Bannan Research and Teaching Fellows will advance faculty research and involvement around core concerns within the Jesuit, Catholic tradition as it relates to the wider mission of Santa Clara University. This will also enhance student learning through faculty’s mission-driven research and professional activities flowing into the classroom, including student engagement with guest speakers and engaging students in research projects where appropriate.
2026-27 Fellows
Paul Schutz
Professor, Department of Religious Studies
Laura Nichols
Professor, Department of Sociology
Matthew Carnes, SJ
Vice President, Mission and Ministry
Professor, Department of Political Science
William O'Neill, SJ
Resident Scholar, Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education
Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Jesuit School of Theology
Bannan Newly-Tenured Faculty Fellows
Bannan Newly-Tenured Fellows take part in a year-long program that provides them intentional support and formation by fostering depth, awareness, and engagement with the Jesuit tradition, offering support for research and a space for reflection and discernment. This entails seminar-style discussion of the Jesuit tradition that helps fellows deepen their understanding and enactment of the Jesuit intellectual tradition in their professional lives at Santa Clara and extensive support for a research project that is rooted in the Jesuit Catholic tradition.
Dr. Jeremiah Coogan
Associate Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, Jesuit School of Theology
Dr. Molly King
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology
Dr. Hamed Akbari, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Bioengineering
Dr. Heather Turner
Associate Professor and Vice Chair, Department of English
Dr. Jesica Fernández
Associate Professor, Department of Ethnic Studies
The program has a threefold goal:
- To support the mission formation of newly-tenured faculty in the Jesuit tradition so that they may more fully embody and enact the six dimensions of mission across and beyond the university.
- To promote, foster, and facilitate mission-driven research that engages the Jesuit Catholic tradition in service of SCU and broader local, national, and global communities.
- To cultivate leadership skills in an Ignatian key, in keeping with the ICJE’s vision of the integration of faith, justice, and the intellectual life. This will infuse the principles of the tradition into the university community as tenured faculty move into positions of leadership in their Departments, Colleges, Schools, and the larger University.
APPLICATION GUIDELINES
ELIGIBILITY
Faculty who have received tenure and promotion to Associate Professor no more than two years before the application deadline are invited to apply. Faculty may participate in the program while on a post-tenure sabbatical (if applicable, and if they wish to do so) or in the year following the sabbatical.
STRUCTURE & COMMITMENT
This one-year program provides intentional support and formation for faculty by fostering depth, awareness, and engagement with the Jesuit tradition, offering support for research and a space for reflection and discernment. This will entail seminar-style discussion of the Jesuit tradition that helps fellows deepen their understanding and enactment of the Jesuit intellectual tradition in their professional lives at Santa Clara and extensive support for a research project that is rooted in the Jesuit Catholic tradition.
Fellows commit to attending 3 meetings per quarter with their cohort. Each fellow will also create a research-based deliverable that could be utilized by the ICJE to exemplify how mission-driven scholarship serves SCU and the broader communities of which our faculty are part. Deliverables could include research or thought briefs, talks, exhibits, etc., which could be presented at an annual colloquium or panel offered by the fellows.
SUBMISSION CRITERIA
RATIONALE
Faculty who have recently been tenured are often ready to enact SCU’s mission in new and creative ways and are called upon to take up leadership roles across the university. But often, they lack the kind of formation in the Jesuit tradition that makes mission-driven research and leadership possible. The Bannan Faculty Fellows program aims to support a cohort of these faculty by cultivating leadership skills rooted in the Jesuit Catholic tradition and providing support for a “next project” that connects imaginatively to mission. This will, over time, create a growing number of faculty more deeply versed in the Jesuit tradition.
PROCESS
In the Winter Quarter, the ICJE and Senior Fellows solicit nominations from Deans and Chairs and invite faculty to apply. Applications, due mid-Winter Quarter, will be reviewed by the ICJE team and senior fellows.
To learn more:
Aaron Willis | Director of Bannan Forum and Ignatian Formation
awillis@scu.edu | 408-554-4383
Application Deadline: All completed applications must be submitted no later than June 1st, 2026