The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good (ECG) has selected its class of faculty and postdoctoral fellows for the 2026–27 academic year. The fellows’ official appointment to the university is pending approval by the Office of the Provost and the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs.
These fellowships are made possible through a $10 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation for the project Love and Social Transformation: Empowering Scholars and Social Innovators to Develop the Love Ethic. The grant project is led by the Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Center for Virtue Ethics, the locus for research and moral formation within the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. It brings scholars, writers, nonprofit leaders and others together to advance a framework that captures the power, richness and applicability of the love ethic—a core component of many faith traditions throughout the world.
The 2026–27 cohort includes four faculty fellows and three postdoctoral fellows, each of whom will pursue a significant research project related to the love ethic.
Faculty Fellows:
- Angela Carpenter (Leonard and Marjorie Maas Associate Professor of Reformed Theology, Hope College)
- Abraham Mathew (assistant professor of philosophy, Texas Tech University)
- Aaron Stalnaker (professor of religious studies, Indiana University), co-sponsored by the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies
- Michael Zhao (assistant professor of philosophy, University of Notre Dame)
Postdoctoral Fellows:
- Abdul Ansari (Ph.D., University of Michigan, department of philosophy)
- Samiksha Goyal (Ph.D., Monash University, department of philosophy)
- Kelly Klee (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame, department of theology)
“We are delighted to welcome these fellows as the first cohort in what we hope will become a vibrant, ongoing conversation about the role of love in our moral lives and in social transformation,” said Meghan Sullivan, the Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy, director of the Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and the Notre Dame Ethics Initiative. “The work of these scholars could not be more timely, and our faculty and postdoctoral fellows will be the intellectual heart of our growing Love Ethic Network. We are excited to welcome them to the Institute in August!”
In addition to pursuing their individual research projects, the faculty and postdoctoral fellows will gather for weekly work-in-progress seminars and receive communications training to help translate their scholarship for broader public audiences. They will also develop public-facing projects designed to engage wider communities in their work.
Postdoctoral fellows will also collaborate with ECG staff on a substantial administrative project aligned with their expertise and the institute’s priorities. This component of the program is designed to provide professional development alongside dedicated research time, strengthening fellows’ preparation for future academic careers.
Faculty fellows will be in residence for one academic year and receive a fellowship stipend, research funding, and subsidized housing. Postdoctoral fellows will hold two-year appointments with a competitive salary and research support.
The application period for 2027–28 faculty fellowships will open in summer 2026. To learn more about the ECG faculty fellowship program, visit the ECG’s faculty fellowships page. More information about the ECG postdoctoral fellowship program can be found at the institute’s postdoctoral fellowship overview page.
The Institute for Ethics and the Common Good is at the heart of the Ethics Initiative, a University-wide effort to establish Notre Dame as a premier global destination for the study of ethics. Under the leadership of Meghan Sullivan, Ethics Initiative director and Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy, the institute focuses on cross-disciplinary ethics research, undergraduate course development, the moral formation of its students and faculty, and engaging the public in meaningful dialogue around ethical issues.