The Program

The Iowa Law Faculty Fellowship is designed to provide research opportunities, faculty mentoring, and career development for promising legal scholars and teachers.  The position combines law teaching with scholarly research and writing, especially research with an interdisciplinary focus and reach, and aims to further the University of Iowa’s goal of recruiting and retaining a more diverse campus community of faculty, staff and students. 

The University of Iowa has long had a commitment to increasing diversity in the legal profession.  The Iowa Law Faculty Fellowship is a successor to the Faculty Fellows program, which provided aspiring legal academics with an opportunity to develop their scholarship and teaching, and ultimately seek long-term academic positions.  

Iowa Law is especially well known for its strong focus on law teaching, exceptionally comprehensive law library, and collaborative atmosphere.  The University of Iowa itself is a major public research university located in Iowa City, a quintessential college town brimming with writers, students, and scholars.    

Iowa Law Faculty Fellows concentrate on those aspects of academic life that are most likely to be helpful in preparing for a faculty career in legal education.  Typically, faculty fellows teach one course during the academic year, with the remainder of the fellow’s time devoted to research and development of one or more major works of scholarship.  Fellows works closely with a primary faculty mentor and advisory team of faculty members.  Faculty fellows participate fully in the life of the College, but will have limited service assignments so as to permit the fellow to concentrate on teaching and scholarship.  Fellows will be expected to contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals at the College and University.    

The Iowa Law Faculty Fellowship does not have a specific subject matter focus, but prioritizes applicants who seek to conduct interdisciplinary research that connects with other fields of study at the University of Iowa.  Selection criteria include the potential for legal teaching and scholarship, interdisciplinarity of research, contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the degree to which the applicant’s research proposal aligns with institutional resources and opportunities.  

Fellowship Term

Initial Faculty Fellowship appointments are for one year and can be renewed once. Fellows will be appointed at the rank of Visiting Assistant Professor of Law.  Most Faculty Fellows will serve for two years and participate in the law hiring market during the second year of the fellowship. The salary is competitive with well-regarded law fellowship and VAP programs. In addition, Faculty Fellows will be provided with research support including research, travel funds and the opportunity to hire law student research assistants. Fellows are expected to be in full-time residence at Iowa Law during the academic year.

For more information, please contact Adrien Wing, chair of the Faculty Appointments Committee, at adrien-wing@uiowa.edu.