The PSO Scholarship Academy provides faculty and staff the necessary knowledge, skills, time, and support to develop and disseminate scholarly work. The goal of the academy is to build research and scholarship capacity by:
- Developing scholarship skills within and across PSO units;
- Building a shared understanding of what PSO research looks like—and how it can have broader impact;
- Helping to integrate research and scholarship into PSO’s everyday work;
- Supporting faculty and staff in presenting at national conferences and publishing scholarship;
- Strengthening opportunities and readiness for promotion through more applied research activities; and
- Enhancing one’s confidence in research methods, data analysis, and writing for publication.
Through an intensive 18-month program, academy participants produce scholarship that can be disseminated through deliverables such as policy papers, national conference presentations, and peer-reviewed posters and articles.
The 2025-2027 PSO Scholarship Academy includes a September kick-off and several “pre-academy” workshop in fall 2025, six modules and three writing retreats that will run from January 2026 through January 2027, and a final symposium and celebration of success in February 2027 (see schedule below).
The pre-academy workshops are designed to provide participants with research basics and opportunities to work with academy coaches on distilling research questions. The modules are designed to provide participants with guided instruction, support, and time for developing scholarship while the writing retreats allow for focused time to further develop and work on scholarship between modules.
Academy participants are expected to participate in-person and actively engage in all aspects of the program, including pre-academy work in a small group with a coach, and inter-module work in participant pairs with a mentor and peer group once the modules begin. Participants will be guided through every aspect of the research design and publication process, with the expectation of a completed manuscript and plan for submission in an academic peer-reviewed journal, and one other scholarly product or activity (policy paper, conference presentation, poster presentation, ignite talks, etc.) that can come from the same body of research. One need not have previously published research to participate in the academy.
2025-27 Schedule
| Module | Date | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Kick-off | September 3, 2025 | Kick-off with full cohort, research basics & research questions |
| Pre-academy Workshops with Coaches | October-December 2025 | Five pre-academy small group meetings with coaches |
| Module 1 | February 24-25, 2026 | Understanding theory |
| Module 2 | March 17-18, 2026 | Literature reviews |
| Module 3 | April 28-29, 2026 | Research design |
| First Writing Retreat | May 19-20, 2026 | Data collection & writing |
| Independent Work | Summer 2026 | Data collection & monthly check-ins with coach |
| Module 4 | August 25-26, 2026 | Basic data analysis |
| Scheduled Time with Mentors | September 2026 | Data analysis |
| Module 5 | October 20-21, 2026 | Writing the article |
| Second Writing Retreat | November 10-11, 2026 | Writing the article |
| Module 6 | January 19-20, 2027 | Finalizing the article |
| Final Presentations | February 24, 2027 | End of program presentations & celebration |
Contact Information
For more information about the PSO Scholarship Academy, please contact:
- Matt Bishop, associate vice president, Public Service and Outreach, mlbishop@uga.edu or 706-542-6167
- Becky Nesbit, professor of nonprofit management, School of Public and International Affairs, nesbit7@uga.edu or 706-583-5570