Research and Scholarship

female student reading book in the stacks

Office of Research and Academic Support

The Office of Research and Academic Support (ORAS) oversees academic support services to the whole of CIIS. By uniting the diverse functions of the Rockefeller Library, the Center for Writing and Scholarship (CWS), the Human Research Review Committee (HRRC), and the newly formed Dissertation Office, CIIS aims to enhance cross-departmental connections while maintaining the standard of excellence that characterizes each individual department.

Each department shares the overarching goal of fostering student and faculty success in research and scholarship. By collaborating in areas of overlap, such as pedagogical training or academic language skills, ORAS will be able to provide deeper, tailored support to each student or faculty member throughout their time at CIIS. Likewise, by coordinating complementary programs, CIIS will be better able to help students go from researching and writing short essays to completing long-term studies or entire dissertations. No matter the topic, ORAS is committed to helping CIIS students and faculty pursue their research passions.

Learn more about our areas of support:

Center for Writing and Scholarship

The Center for Writing and Scholarship (CWS) supports students, faculty, and staff in their development as academic writers. We honor integral, diverse, and creative approaches to writing and scholarship, while empowering scholars through a student-centered approach that values deep listening, process-oriented inquiry, collaboration, and thoughtful communication across complex differences. Resources include:

For-Credit Academic Courses - We offer a series of Academic Foundations courses open to all students that provide tools and strategies to assist students in exploring and refining their academic writing, composition and communication, research methodology, and pedagogy.
Writing Consultations – Writing Fellows meet one-on-one with students in single appointments up to once a week to offer support at any stage of the writing process, from brainstorming to revising, and on any aspect of the writing process, including structure, organization, and clarity. Fellows are proficient writers and editors but not subject matter experts, and cannot advise on academic content.
Peer-Review Editing – As a part of our writing support services for the international student community, L2, and ESL students, the Editing and Publication Manager provides technical and grammatical feedback on papers and assignments at the final stages of the writing process asynchronously.
Workshops - As current students themselves, Writing Fellows have a unique view on the writing needs of the student community, and offer workshops that span a range of subjects, from supporting marginalized voices to offering holistic approaches to writing.

Learn more about the Center for Writing and Scholarship

Fellowships

The Center for Writing and Scholarship (CWS) invites applications from current CIIS students for a competitive fellowship opportunity for the following academic year. CWS Fellows are instrumental in developing a research culture at the Institute, and in supporting students, faculty, and staff in the development of writing and scholarship at the Institute.

Primary benefits of the Fellowship include:

Service: Fellowship awardees serve the writing needs of the larger CIIS community while completing pedagogical training and receiving compensation for work as a writing tutor and instructor. Fellows typically work 5-10 hours/week, while enrolling in a 3-unit pedagogy course (tuition for this course is covered by the Fellowship award).
Personal and professional development: Over the course of the yearlong Fellowship, students explore learning theory, develop curricula for workshops offered through the Center, cultivate self-reflective facilitation skills, deepen writing and research skills, develop a research project that may be presented at a professional conference, contribute to committee projects, and participate in the administration of the Center on campus.
Engagement in a community of practice: At its heart, the Fellowship nurtures a community of developing writing tutors, teachers, and learners who are actively engaged in building a collaborative space while supporting one another's personal growth and goals.

The Center accepts applications in the spring of each year, to begin in fall of the subsequent academic year. Interested students should reach out to cws@ciis.edu.

Dissertation Office

The CIIS Dissertation Office supports graduate and doctoral education at CIIS by assisting students, faculty, and program staff in navigating processes related to master's theses and doctoral dissertations and advising on related policies. The Dissertation Office provides instruction and training broadly related to master's theses and doctoral dissertations in collaboration with the Center for Writing and Scholarship (CWS), Human Research Review Committee (HRRC), and the Library.

Learn more about the Dissertation Office on SharePoint

The Center for Writing and Scholarship reviews and approves all dissertations submitted for degree conferral by CIIS students, and collaborates closely with a network of Technical Reviewers vetted by the Institute in ensuring CIIS and publication standards are met. Find current policies. Resources for students are available on our SharePoint Site. We also encourage students to explore our writing resources offered through the CWS during the research and writing process.

Find out about the innovative dissertation research happening at CIIS

Human Research Review Committee

As the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for CIIS, the Human Research Review Committee (HRRC) reviews human subjects research by graduate students and faculty, and staff where applicable. Further details are available to current CIIS students and staff at our internal HRRC website and to internal and external viewers at the HRRC’s Library Guide for Human Subjects Research. Students, faculty, and staff can find CITI Program human research protection training courses here. An instruction guide for enrolling in the Human Subjects Research course for Social & Behavioral Investigators is available here. For additional questions or concerns, please consult the HRRC Handbook or our Resources for Alumni, or contact us at hrrcoffice@ciis.edu.

Laurance S. Rockefeller Library

The Laurance S. Rockefeller Library is the academic heart of CIIS. The library offers a wide variety of information services to assist faculty and students with all of their research needs. With weekly courses on everything from citation management tools to database navigation during the semester, and dozens of asynchronous trainings available year-round, the library is committed to making scholarship accessible and attainable. The library team also offers in-class trainings and tailored one-on-one instruction by zoom or in person.

The library building, located on the second floor of the Mission Campus, provides spaces for both quiet study and collaborative work, as well as access to the diverse array of physical and digital resources. Physical and digital collections span 450,000 books, journals, and multimedia resources. To best serve CIIS’ students and faculty, subject matter expertise is particularly deep in the areas of psychology and counseling, global wisdom traditions, religion and spirituality, the social sciences, and much more.

Library Website

Fulbright

CIIS students and alumni are encouraged to apply for the Fulbright Student Program to promote openness, academic integrity, and intellectual freedom, thereby enhancing mutual understanding on a global scale. Applicants must be U.S. citizens and hold a B.A. or equivalent before the beginning date of the grant. The award provides round-trip travel, tuition, books, and stipend for one academic year. It also supports coursework and master’s or dissertation research. Please find information on the Fulbright website.

For U.S. citizens and permanent residents conducting overseas dissertation research in modern foreign language and area studies, there is also an opportunity to apply to the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation fellowship. Funding is for six to 12 months. Fellowships are not awarded for projects focusing on Western Europe or for research in countries with which the U.S. has no diplomatic relations. Information is on the US Department of Education website.

Applications open in April and close in September. For more details, including a full timeline, please visit our CIIS Connect page. The CIIS Fulbright Campus Committee can review and provide feedback on applicants’ personal and grant purpose statements; please visit the contact CIIS Fulbright Advisor Heidi Fraser Hageman with further questions: hfraser@ciis.edu.