The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund: On-Campus Convening
The Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund supports Yale faculty members in organizing on-campus conferences, workshops, and seminar series on international topics in the humanities or social sciences, or their disciplines as they intersect with the humanities and social sciences. Full-time multi-year faculty from all schools and departments at the university are eligible to apply for Kempf funding through MacMillan. Kempf funds are not available to visitors. Preference will be given to events on topics directly related to the current research interests of the convening faculty member(s) and to interdisciplinary and inter-area teams of people. Priority will also be given to those who have not been funded recently, and to those whose proposals seem especially timely and pressing for our faculty’s scholarship.
Kempf funds are decided during the spring term for activities to be held during the following academic year.
The deadline for applications for the 2025-2026 academic year is by March 7, 2025. The online application form for this application cycle will be live on this website in early January.
Please see below for a full set of guidelines. The maximum amount that can be awarded is $22,000.
In recent years, the MacMillan Center has received requests for funding from the Kempf Fund for approximately twice the amount of funds that the Kempf endowment generates each year. Given that most applications we receive are excellent, that unfortunately leaves us unable to fund all the meritorious proposals we receive.
Note: Please only apply if you are sure you will execute your event in the next year, and do not apply if you plan on being on leave or sabbatical, for example. We hold the competition every year, so you can always apply next year.
Kempf Fund guidelines
1) Kempf funds may be used for international conferences, workshops, colloquia, and seminar series held at Yale, more specifically “all necessary expenses of selecting and inviting speakers, paying stipends, transportation and maintenance, and arranging, announcing and conducting of such conferences and publishing their papers and essential proceedings.” Kempf funds may not be used to support off-campus events or travel to such events.
2) It is advisable but not required that you submit your proposal in cooperation with a council, committee or program of the MacMillan Center, or the dean of your school if the proposal is from outside FAS/MacMillan, in which case you should indicate their support. The MacMillan Center will also favorably consider proposals that encourage collaboration among councils, programs and schools. Proposals from students organizing an event with minimal faculty support will not be considered.
3) As funds are limited, we encourage you to seek supplemental funds, including from outside Yale. If you receive funding in excess of your proposal, it is your obligation to notify the MacMillan Center.
4) If you are awarded Kempf funds, it is your responsibility to monitor the expenditure of the funds, and you alone are responsible for over-expenditures. Kempf funds that you are awarded but do not use due to change of plans, overfunding, etc., will revert to the MacMillan Center’s central Kempf fund unless explicitly approved for an extension. If you are awarded Kempf funds, your award letter will provide information concerning the appropriate acknowledgments, publicity, accounting, etc. All questions regarding the monitoring and finances of your award should be submitted to the MacMillan Center’s Business Office at macmillan.finance@yale.edu.