Elise J. Bean Oversight Fellowship Program

About this program

Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School offers the Elise J. Bean Oversight Fellowship, an annual non‑resident award (renamed in 2025) that for 2026/27 provides $10,000 to one early‑career scholar to research and produce a paper on congressional or state legislative oversight. Applicants should be early‑career researchers (including post‑doctoral scholars and junior faculty) working on oversight topics such as constitutional and political theory, committee staffing, bipartisan oversight measures, oversight performance metrics, databases, or historical/subject‑specific oversight studies. Fellows have no teaching obligations; funding may only cover direct research expenses (e.g., data, travel, research assistance), not indirect costs, is paid in two installments over 12 months, and recipients must present their paper at a Levin Center event and permit its promotion and possible publication. Applications typically open December 1 and close January 31; the 2026 cycle is closed and the 2027 competition will reopen in December 2026.