Fellowship
The Fellows Program
A selective fellowship for the next generation of civil rights compliance leaders. Each year we select two fellows to gain real-world experience alongside our practitioners and to complete an original research project that advances the field.
The Fellows Program is how we invest in the people who will lead this field. It is built in the tradition of immersive leadership and research fellowships: fellows do the work, they do not only study it, and they leave having produced something that matters.
Two commitments define the experience. The first is real-world practice. Fellows work beside our team on live matters, from intake through resolution, and build the judgment the work demands. The second is research. Each fellow conceives and completes an original research project on a question facing the field, finished ahead of the program's conclusion and shared with practitioners.
The fellowship is deliberately small. We select two fellows each year. Keeping the cohort small lets us invest deeply in each fellow, pair real mentorship with real responsibility, and hold the standard that makes the credential mean something.
The experience
Work the matters, not the theory
Fellows are embedded with our practitioners on live civil rights matters across Title IX, Title VI, Title VII, ADA and Section 504, and the Clery Act. The exposure is structured and supervised. You sit in on intake, help build the record, watch decisions get made, and learn why. This is the part of the work you cannot get from a webinar.
Leave with something you built
Every fellow conceives and completes an original research project on a question the field needs answered. You scope it early with an FC mentor, develop it across the fellowship, and complete it ahead of the program's conclusion. Finished projects are published under the Fractional Coordinator banner and presented to our practitioner network.
Why apply
Real-world experience
Supervised practice on live matters, from intake through resolution.
An original research project
A substantial, publishable body of work with your name on it.
Senior mentorship
Paired with a practitioner who has done this work inside institutions.
Certification and training
Our certification and framework workshops, included at no cost.
A platform for your work
Your research published and presented to practitioners in the field.
A cohort and a network
A small peer cohort and lasting access to our practitioner community.
A credential that means something
A completion credential and a strong reference for your next step.
The full community
Coffee Talks, the retreats, and the people who take this work seriously.
The research project
The research project is the heart of the fellowship. It is what separates this program from a training track. Each fellow chooses a question that matters: something the field is getting wrong, an area with no good guidance, a practice worth testing, and does the work to answer it.
You are not on your own. An FC mentor helps you scope the project in the first weeks, meets with you throughout, and holds you to a standard the field will respect. The project is finished ahead of the fellowship's conclusion so that it can be reviewed, published, and presented while you are still with us.
Recent and example research areas include:
- Supportive measures that work: what complainants actually use, and what goes unused
- Informal resolution outcomes across institution types
- Shared-ancestry complaint patterns: intake, response time, and resolution
- Digital accessibility in course platforms ahead of the 2027 Title II deadline
- Hazing data infrastructure under the renamed Clery framework
- Mandatory reporting in K-12: where training and practice diverge
- Participation effects of live hearings and cross-examination under the 2020 rule
- Coordinator workload and staffing models in lean enforcement years
Areas fellows might explore include supportive-measure design, the defensibility of informal resolution, accessibility grievance processes in PK-12, and Clery classification. The question can be your own.
How the fellowship unfolds
Onboarding
Orientation, training, and a first pairing with your mentor. You scope your research question early.
Embedded practice
You join live matters alongside our team and begin building a record of real work.
Research development
Your project takes shape. You research, draft, and refine with your mentor throughout.
Completion and presentation
You finish your project ahead of the program's end, publish it, and present it to the network.
Who should apply
The fellowship is built for people in the early years of civil rights work, and for those moving into the field from adjacent roles: human resources, student affairs, legal, or PK-12 administration. You do not need years of experience. You need to take the work seriously, to write clearly, and to be genuinely curious about a question the field has not yet answered.
How to apply
Express interest
Tell us about yourself and the question you would want to spend a year on.
Conversation
A conversation with our team about fit, your goals, and your proposed research.
Selection
Two fellows are selected each year. We invest fully in both.
