Education Fellows Program

General Information

Purpose of the Education Fellows Program

The Education Fellows Program was established by the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue in 2007. The program honors the educational legacy of global peace builder and Center founder, Daisaku Ikeda, and aims to advance research and scholarship on the internationally growing field of Ikeda/Soka studies in education.

This field coheres around historical, conceptual, and empirical scholarship on the philosophies and practices of Japanese educators Daisaku Ikeda, Josei Toda, and Tsunesaburo Makiguchi, and the sōka, or “value-creating,” approaches they have enacted and inspired worldwide. These philosophies and practices undergird the Soka kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, women’s college, and universities in seven countries across Asia and the Americas; inform non-Soka public and private schools and universities in various countries; and shape the practices and perspectives of thousands of educators and school leaders in diverse multicultural, multiracial, and multilingual contexts. The past decade in particular has witnessed remarkable developments in the field of Ikeda/Soka studies in education, including the establishment of numerous university-affiliated research initiatives and institutes, courses and degree programs, scholarly publications and translations, and regular presentations at international conferences. 

Background on Ikeda/Soka Studies in Education

Click here for the background and scope of Ikeda/Soka studies in education.

Mission of the Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue

Our mission is to build cultures of peace through learning and dialogue inspired by Buddhist humanism. Specifically, we work to establish a shared global ethic across cultures and religions—an ethic based on respect for the absolute sanctity of life itself, a firm belief in the human potential for good and for transforming the world, and a clear recognition of the interdependence of all life. 

In addition to the Education Fellows Program, our programs include the development of multi-author books on topics in peace, learning, and dialogue; an annual Ikeda Forum for Intercultural Dialogue; and “Dialogue Nights” for college students and young professionals. These programs are inspired by founder Daisaku Ikeda's belief that open-hearted, open-minded dialogue presents humankind with the surest path to peace.

Focus of Research

The Ikeda Center Education Fellows Program supports doctoral dissertations in the field of Ikeda/Soka studies in education, including its relation to the philosophy and practice of education more generally. (Go here to view a bibliographic guide to relevant English-language sources on Ikeda/Soka studies in education.)

The Ikeda Center invites a wide range of approaches, including dissertation research that examines intrinsic and extrinsic dimensions of Ikeda/Soka studies in education. By “intrinsic” we mean the historical and primary texts by Makiguchi, Toda, and Ikeda in Japanese and in the contexts in which they were written; by “extrinsic” we mean these texts and their ideas in translation and application in various contexts and disciplines. 

Awards and Conditions

Two or three Ikeda Center Education Fellows will be selected by an Advisory Council of leading education scholars. Fellows will be eligible for two years of funding at $10,000 per year, with the second year contingent on proof of progress. Successful applicants will be expected to submit a final written statement along with their dissertation and abstract upon completion. In addition to the basic stipend, each fellowship also covers costs of mandatory attendance at a one-day seminar with a distinguished advisory panel at the Ikeda Center in Cambridge, MA.

In addition, successful candidates should be willing to participate whenever feasible in future networking activities to advance research in Ikeda/Soka studies in education. Examples include:

• presenting research results at regional and national education conferences;
• interacting with past and current fellows as well as advisors as needed; and
• participating in seminars and public conferences at the Ikeda Center in Cambridge, MA.

Advisory Council

Virginia Benson, Executive Director, Ikeda Center for Peace, Learning, and Dialogue

Jim Garrison, Professor of Philosophy of Education, Virginia Tech

Jason Goulah, Professor of Bilingual-Bicultural Education and Director, Institute for Daisaku Ikeda Studies in Education, DePaul University

Ming Fang He, Professor of Curriculum Studies, Georgia Southern University

Larry Hickman (Chair), Director Emeritus, Center for Dewey Studies, and Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Southern Illinois University

Isabel Nuñez, Professor and Director of the School of Education, Purdue University Fort Wayne

William H. Schubert, Professor Emeritus of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Illinois-Chicago

Dissertations by Past Fellows

Nozomi Inukai, DePaul University, “Understanding a ‘Good Teacher’ from a Soka Perspective: Exploring the Four Curriculum Commonplaces at Soka University of America” (2020)

Vicki Mokuria, Texas A&M University, “Turning Poison into Medicine: Exploring the Transformative Power of Soka Educational Philosophy through Narrative Inquiry” (2019)

Melissa Bradford, DePaul University, "Friends in the Orchid Room: An Inquiry into Value-Creative Dialogue" (2018)

Julie Nagashima, University of Pittsburgh, "The Meaning of Relationships for Student Agency in Soka Education: Exploring the Lived Experiences and Application of Daisaku Ikeda's Value-Creating Philosophy through Narrative Inquiry" (2017)

Mahi Takazawa, University of San Francisco, "Exploration of Soka Education Principles on Global Citizenship: a Qualitative Study of U.S. K-3 Soka Educators" (2016)

Gonzalo Obelleiro, Columbia University, "Cosmopolitan Education and the Creation of Value" (2014)

Eligibility

* Accepting Applications: June 1, 2020 - September 1, 2020 *

1. Applicants must be candidates for a doctoral degree and must confirm via the application that they are in or beyond their final year of coursework by the start date for the Fellowship [Fall 2020].

2. Applicants must be enrolled in an accredited university in the United States or Canada. 

3. All materials must be submitted in English (The dissertation prospectus should be formatted in APA 7^th ed. or Chicago Manual style). 

Application instructions are here