Supporting Student Training in Cutting-Edge Quantitative Methodologies that Advance Social Science Research
Call for Applications
The CAS Social Science Division invites applications for the inaugural 3-year term of CSSS Faculty Fellows interested in contributing to teaching cutting-edge methodologies that advance social science research. CSSS Faculty Fellows will gain an opportunity to develop advanced methodology courses they may not have had the time or space to develop within their regular teaching schedule. Fellows’ home departments will receive compensation through instructor replacement funds as appropriate.
Interdisciplinary Excellence
The Center for Statistics and the Social Sciences (CSSS) stands as a cornerstone of interdisciplinary excellence at the University of Washington, driving world-class research and training. Situated within the Social Science Division of the College of Arts and Sciences, the center provides inter-disciplinary education to students interested in statistics and social sciences across the UW, at the graduate and undergraduate level, with more than half of the center’s graduate course enrollments originating from outside the College.
A key mission of the center is to develop and sustain a menu of graduate courses in cutting-edge quantitative methodologies that advance social science research. Since 1999, achieving this mission has been made possible through CSSS core faculty hires and with both informal contributions and formal collaborations from academic units across campus such as the Departments of Statistics, Political Science, Sociology and others. With the current number of CSSS core faculty at a historic low and all UW academic units experiencing funding constraints, CSSS Faculty Fellows will help to sustain our premier academic program of rigorous graduate training in cutting-edge statistical and quantitative methodologies for social sciences to continue to attract both high quality students and faculty. The Fellow Program will also provide a mechanism for UW faculty to be formally recognized for their sustained contributions to CSSS’s mission.
Application Details
The application will include a proposal for a graduate course in statistical methodology for the social sciences. The course is to be offered twice, typically in the first and the third year of the 3-year term. The applicants are encouraged to include a modest request for research, student support, or conference travel funds up to 10K per application total. Research funds will become available incrementally after each course offering. CSSS Fellows will be expected to attend quarterly team meetings together with other CSSS instructors and to contribute to the center’s governance during some part of their Faculty Fellow term. Opportunities include involvement with the CSSS seminar committee and/or Blalock awards committee. Specifics are to be worked out in consultation with the CSSS Director. Finally, applicants interested in interdisciplinary undergraduate teaching are welcome to apply to teach CSSS 321, Data Science and Statistics for Social Sciences I, a key course in the Data Science Minor curriculum. CSSS 321 is to be taught each year during the CSSS Faculty Fellow term.
Eligibility: Tenure-track faculty in the Social Science Division of CAS.
Term: Academic years 2026-2029, with the possibility of continuation.
Why teach in CSSS? CSSS offers the opportunity to teach in interdisciplinary classrooms with highly motivated students from across the social and statistical sciences.
Graduate courses: Applications are invited for courses in innovative areas such as artificial intelligence, natural language processing, machine learning and analysis of unstructured data, as well as existing CSSS courses in traditional areas such as statistical analysis of social networks, experimental and survey design, Bayesian statistics, causal inference, statistical game theory, and others.
Undergraduate courses: Applications are invited for CSSS 321, Data Science and Statistics for Social Sciences I, a key course in the Data Science Minor that is taught every year.
Timeline: Applications are due March 13, 2026. Decisions will be announced on April 3, 2026.
Procedure: Applications are submitted to the office of the Social Sciences Divisional Dean. After initial screening by the Divisional Dean, applications will be reviewed by the CSSS.
2026 CSSS Faculty Fellows Application Forms
For preparation purposes, applicants may preview and download the application questions here: Faculty Fellows Application Questions
