Congratulations to our Peer Mentoring Cluster Grant recipients. Learn about their projects in the abstracts listed below!

Whole-Self Pedagogy for BIPOC Men in Predominantly White Institutions: Masculinity and the Teaching Life

James Kwateng-Yeboah, Canadian Mennonite University

This grant brings together BIPOC male faculty in Religion and Theology to explore how racialized masculinity, identity, and institutional context shape pedagogical authority and vocational sustainability at predominantly white institutions. Through peer mentoring, teaching case studies, shared reflection, spiritual direction, and an in-person retreat, the participants will develop constructive approaches to embodied and culturally grounded teaching while engaging the complexities of cross-racial and cross-national solidarity. The year-long collaboration will cultivate practical classroom strategies, mutual accountability, and resources for sustaining the teaching life. The project will culminate in a reflective essay sharing insights on BIPOC masculinity and pedagogical presence with other educators.

Beauty and Creativity for Flourishing and Teaching: An Asian American Exploration

Daniel Lee, Fuller Theological Seminary 

This grant cohort will explore how beauty, creativity, and artistic practice can foster personal flourishing and sustain the teaching life amid the pressures of academic productivity. Through monthly conversations, engagement with Asian American artists and creative practitioners, and a retreat in Los Angeles, participants will reflect on how aesthetic experiences can nurture their humanity, deepen vocational friendship, and inform their pedagogical practices. The cluster will create intentional space for play, contemplation, and creative expression while considering the relationship between art, justice, technology, culture, and well-being. The project will culminate in shared reflection on how these experiences might contribute to more sustainable and whole approaches to teaching.

Sustaining the Teaching Life: Korean American Theological Educators Beyond Survival

Heesung Hwang, Pacific School of Religion

This grant brings together Korean American theological educators in the early-to-mid stages of their careers to explore how scholars of color can sustain meaningful scholarly and pedagogical lives amid institutional precarity, racialized expectations, and cumulative stress. Building on an established peer mentoring relationship, the cluster will focus particularly on trauma-informed pedagogy, vocational longevity, and the integration of healing, identity, and teaching practice. Through online gatherings, collaborative pedagogical reflection, and a three-day retreat in New York City, participants will develop practices that support both personal and communal resilience while deepening their teaching. The project extends peer mentoring beyond the pre-tenure years and seeks to demonstrate how sustained, culturally grounded accompaniment can contribute to a more humane and sustainable theological academy.

Asian American Female Identity Formation for Administrative and Practical Theology Faculty

Sue Park, Columbia Theological Seminary

This grant brings together Asian American women serving as administrative faculty and practical theologians at mainline Protestant seminaries to explore how racial, cultural, and gender identities shape their institutional roles, teaching, and scholarly work. Through collaborative reflection on workload, administrative faculty identity, practical theology, and pedagogy, the cluster will develop a fuller account of these often-ambiguous positions and examine how lived experience informs the practice and teaching of practical theology. The project will foster interinstitutional and intergenerational solidarity while generating new pedagogical approaches grounded in Asian American women’s experiences. The cluster will culminate in a collaborative article or workshop plan focused on Asian American feminist practical theology and pedagogies.

From Fear to Formation: Teaching Asian Futurism With Joy

Dong Hyeon Jeong, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary

This grant cohort hopes to form an intimate peer-mentoring relationship, focusing on the impact of AI technology and other recent technological advances in the pedagogical context. Recognizing both the challenges as well as transformative potentials, the cohort asks, what is Asian futurism, and where can we find joy, ethical engagement, and community formation in the future of algorithmic technologies? Through a series of in-person and virtual gatherings, the cohort will engage with one another and with an external mentor. The final product of the peer mentoring cluster includes publications, pedagogical modules, and other forms of public presentation of the findings. 

Pedagogies of Presence: A Peer Mentoring Cluster for BIPOC Faculty in Islamic Studies

Tasneem Siddiqui, Drexel University

This grant brings together BIPOC faculty teaching Islamic Studies to develop a sustained community of practice addressing the distinctive challenges of teaching Islam amid racism, Islamophobia, xenophobia, and institutional marginalization. Through collaborative examination of syllabi, classroom challenges, assessment practices, and vocational sustainability, participants will develop pedagogies rooted in their racial, cultural, and religious identities while sharing strategies for creating inclusive and rigorous learning environments. A face-to-face retreat will deepen this work through embodied and contemplative practices, cultural engagement, and reflection on institutional navigation and self-advocacy. The project will culminate in a shared resource document and ongoing commitments to pedagogical practice, professional support, and mutual flourishing.

Rest as Resistance: Womanist, Feminist, and Latina Ethics of Care in the Teaching Life of Women of Color

Monica Rey, Claremont School of Theology

Drawing on Tricia Hersey's Rest Is Resistance alongside womanist, feminist, and Latina theological traditions, this project gathers a cohort of women of color in Bible, theology, and religious studies to explore rest, care, and collective accountability as pedagogy rather than as retreat from it. The work begins with a day-long retreat of embodied rituals of rest and continues through a series of virtual sessions on boundary setting, healing from academic trauma, cultural taxation, dreaming, and imagination, each grounded in the question, "How does this practice of rest change how we teach?" A ritual of remembrance will honor colleagues and mentors in the guild who have died too young, naming the personal costs that women of color bear in predominantly white institutions. The cohort will produce a shared teaching resource kit extending these practices of sustenance to other women of color in the academy.

Peer Mentoring Cluster Grants provide up to $10,000 to support small groups of BIPOC faculty in Religion and Theology. These grants create spaces for learning, professional growth, mutual support, and communal care. Designed for full-time faculty in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico, these grants fund peer mentoring clusters that typically gather 6–8 times over the course of a year, with at least one in-person retreat. Each cluster focuses on some aspect of teaching or the teaching life—exploring strategies for thriving in higher education while honoring cultural identity, community, and resilience. 

All proposals are reviewed and adjudicated by the Wabash Center’s advisory committee. The process is competitive and based on alignment with our mission and selection criteria outlined in the RFP. Applicants will be notified via email, and awards will be announced by April 2026.

Can you provide some examples of the sorts of projects this program is intended to fund?
Answer: We have intentionally chosen to not provide illustrations of exemplary projects in order to not limit the imagination and creativity of applicants’ ideas.  

Who is eligible to apply?
Answer: The applicant (Cluster Leader) must be BIPOC and teaching Religion or Theology full-time at a college, university, or theological school.

Must every participant in the Cluster have been a participant in a Wabash Center workshop or colloquy?
Answer: No.

Must every participant in the Cluster be teaching theological or religious studies in higher education?
Answer: No. A Cluster may include others, but since our intention is to support faculty in the fields of theological and religious studies, we would expect the majority of the Cluster participants to fit this label and that others’ participation be explained (briefly) in the cover letter.

How small or how large can Clusters be?
Answer: There is no absolute cut-off point. The amount of funding is one limiting factor. Also, consider how small or how large a group can be and still have effective conversation. Our assumption is that Clusters of between 3 to 6 participants would be a good range.

How often should clusters meet, and for how many years?
Answer: The number and format of the meetings will depend upon the proposal itself. Costs for travel and hospitality will limit the number of meetings. There is no specific number of meetings or length of time. Our hope is that the grant will be the catalyst to begin this peer work and that other professional development money could be used to continue the meetings once the Wabash Center funding is gone.

Can Clusters meet “virtually” (online)?
Answer: Yes. But we would expect at least one face-to-face meeting between cluster participants and an explanation in the cover letter as to why this seems to be the best way to carry out the conversations.

Can funds be used as stipends or honoraria in compensation for work and time?
Answer: Yes. But stipends should be minimal for the participants in the Cluster, and larger for an outside expert who is used in some way. We assume that all members of the Cluster will be gaining from the meetings and conversations and will not need a full stipend to be involved.

How rigid is the distinction between research and teaching?
Answer: This is not a research grant but talk about research and scholarship is not restricted or prohibited. Because the Wabash Center’s mission is to strengthen and encourage faculty member’s reflection on teaching, the funding is for that purpose. Research and scholarship might result from these Clusters, but this should not be the primary focus of conversation.

Can I participate in more than one Cluster?
Answer: No.

Grant funds can be spent on items and activities such as:

• Childcare, elder care, house sitting to support attendance to group gatherings

• Meals or groceries for gatherings

• Travel, meals, lodging (retreat center, hotel, conference center, rented house)

• Stipends (meager) for participation in the group

• Equipment, supplies, and materials to support group meetings and discussions

• Honorariums for guest resource persons with the group

• Entrance fees or tickets for cultural events, museums, concerts, etc.

• Germane services (e.g., coaching, gym memberships, spa, spiritual direction, workshop registrations, etc.)

The Wabash Center generally does not fund:

• Research

• International travel

• Travel for attendance to disciplinary conferences

• The preparation of textbooks

• Research focused primarily on field content and only secondarily on teaching

• Publication of conference papers or books, or production costs of other media

• Stipends for writing the grant proposal or making application for the grant

• Home utilities should group convene online

• Items designated as gifts, presents, offerings or donations

• Travel, meals, lodging expenses should family or friends accompany participant on an extended conversation

Please note that the grants of the Wabash Center are not intended for the use of underwriting the ordinary, ongoing work of the professorate, much of which is already supported by the home institution or department. The grant funds are meant to be used to support and strengthen teaching and the teaching life. The above lists are not exhaustive. All projects and budget expenditures must be aligned with the Wabash Center mission.

Date: May 7, 2026, 12–3pm ET (mandatory)

 

This orientation introduces grant leaders to Wabash Center staff, peers, and requirements. 

During the session, leaders will:

• Share their project’s vision, aims, and strategies
• Explore practices for effective mentoring and community-building
• Refine their designs through conversation with other leaders
• Review reporting requirements and dissemination strategies
• Consider ways their project may foster institutional change

The Proposal Writing Resource Hub supports faculty in crafting strong, mission-aligned proposals for Wabash grants. Whether you're new to proposal writing or refining an existing idea, this hub offers practical tools, step-by-step guidance, and examples to help shape your vision into a compelling proposal. From articulating project goals to budgeting and evaluation, we’re here to help you succeed.

• 20 Key Questions to Answer Before Writing a Grant Proposal

• Budget and Expense Guidelines 

• Dissemination Planning Worksheet

• Dissemination Strategies

• Examples of Wabash Center Grant Projects

• Grant FAQ

The Grant Management Resource Hub guides faculty through the effective stewardship of funded projects. This includes managing budgets, timelines, and reporting requirements with clarity and confidence. Designed to foster responsible grant leadership, the hub offers tools, templates, and best practices to ensure projects stay on track and aligned with the goals of your grant proposal.

• Dissemination Strategies
• Dissemination Planning Worksheet
• Examples of Wabash Center Grant Projects
• Faculty Transferring Institutions Instructions
• Instructions for Requesting a Grant Extension
• Sample Budget Revision Request
• Sample Letter Requesting Budget Revision
• Grant Reporting Guidelines
• Grant FAQ

We encourage you to seek grant coaching well in advance of the deadline. We recommend reaching out at least 30 days before submission. Coaching and feedback on the grant proposal are not available after an application is submitted.

To request coaching:

• Review the Grant Worksheet

• Contact Sarah Farmer at farmers@wabash.edu.

*Note: Because we receive many requests for feedback, responses may take up to four weeks.