Affiliate Application

Mershon Endowed Chairs and Designated Professors are distinguished faculty who hold joint appointments between the Mershon Center for International Security Studies and a specific academic department. 

Mershon Senior Fellows include past directors and other senior and emeritus faculty who have made notable contributions to the Mershon Center and remain research-active.

Mershon Postdocs are selected in a biennial competition for two-year positions.

Mershon Faculty Affiliates include Ohio State faculty from any department who have current grants with Mershon, are participating in a Mershon project, or have been approved for affiliation.

Mershon Student Affiliates are Ohio State undergraduate and graduate students from any department who have received a research grant, are funded personnel in a Mershon project, or have been approved for affiliation. They are welcome to attend any of our publicly advertised events and Subscribe to the Mershon Memo to receive announcements. Mershon also supports undergraduate experiences including our unique National Security Simulation and the majors and minors in the International Studies program, with a special emphasis on peace and conflict studies. Undergraduates interested in peace and conflict resolution may apply for the Alger Scholarship.

Visiting Scholars: Mershon cannot currently accept applications from unattached scholars, funded or not. Ohio State faculty members may, however, apply for a Residency Grant to bring in a visiting scholar or practitioner for a period of collaboration.

Mershon Alumni: Were you a postdoc here in the long-lost past? Did you have a grant as a grad student? Please send a note to Kyle McCray with your current contact information and bio. We are building a list for future involvement and look forward to catching up with you! 

Becoming an affiliate

As with any interdisciplinary center, affiliation is all about showing up. Mershon’s success depends on continual refreshment and renewal of our perspectives; we welcome new faces and voices at all career stages. We hope to support your research and professional development in ways that also build intellectual community at the center. Rather than simply funding research, programming, and training, we want these activities to reflect the cumulative learning and interdisciplinary ecology of Mershon, even when they are destined for field-specific audiences. Just as Mershon needs to be more than the sum of its parts, Mershon involvement should make a difference to the work of our affiliates.  

Ohio State faculty and students typically become involved with Mershon by attending a cluster of events or being drawn into a research conversation. As these interactions become mutually fruitful, individuals may apply for grants or participate in projects, becoming formal affiliates. Afterwards, they are invited to retain their affiliation as active contributors to Mershon’s cumulative learning. Active contributors who do not need funding or participate in projects may also be invited to affiliate.

Mershon affiliates collaborate with a wide range of scholars, policymakers, practitioners, institutions, and community groups beyond Ohio State, sometimes sustaining networks and relationships over decades. We do not offer formal affiliation to partners outside of Ohio State.

Affiliate benefits

• Invitations to private events with visiting scholars and Ohio State colleagues
• Opportunities to discuss their research and receive feedback from colleagues in other units
• Presence on the Mershon website; affiliates may also work with our communications staff to promote their research
• 1039 Derby may be reserved for research conversations and other small meetings
• Mershon hosting of external grants may be requested
• Institutional membership in various research consortia
• Faculty affiliates who do not have current Mershon grants or other dedicated sources of Mershon funding may request up to $2000 per year to support Mershon-relevant travel, research, and/or programming activities once their departmental and contractual funding is exhausted
• Student affiliates who are not otherwise currently funded by Mershon may request up to $1000 per year in travel or research funding once their departmental funding is exhausted

Affiliate responsibilities

• Faculty affiliates are asked to perform service commensurate with their degree of Mershon involvement. For example, the recipient of an individual grant might be asked to serve on one grant review committee and participate as a respondent to a works-in-progress talk.
• The intellectual mission of the Mershon Center is sustained by the goodwill and mutual attention of colleagues; a reasonable level of presence and active interest is expected of all affiliates. Student affiliates are especially asked to support the activities of other students.
• Affiliates in good standing will be invited to reconfirm their status at the end of each school year by sending an updated link to their faculty People page and/or personal website. Their page should include a statement about their Mershon affiliation and how their research intersects with security studies.
• Affiliates are expected to acknowledge Mershon Center funding, report Mershon-related publications and presentations, and otherwise recognize Mershon Center as professionally appropriate. 
• The Mershon Center takes photographs and videos of Mershon Center events to use in its promotion and publicity. Participation in Mershon events implies consent to use your likeness in our online and offline publications. If you have a special concern about your name or likeness appearing in Mershon publicity, please speak to our Communications Specialist Melissa Ferguson and we will accommodate you.