Research Projects

Loyola University Chicago’s Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage (CCIH) supports research by full-time Loyola University faculty on topics concerned with or connected to the Catholic intellectual heritage. The primary purpose of this support is to facilitate advanced scholarly study of Catholic thought as it touches upon the arts, humanities, and sciences.

Application Information

Research projects can be proposed as summer projects, semester-long projects, or year-long research commitments, and by either individuals or teams of researchers. Grants are awarded to projects with specific concerns connected to Catholic thought and practice, Ignatian intellectual and pedagogical heritage, and social justice in the Catholic tradition.

All research projects are expected to culminate in some relevant output such as data collection, the publication of a journal article or book, or a conference presentation. Proposals can request support for a variety of scholarly activities, including archival research, book manuscript support, data collection, the planning of a conference, or supported field work. Awardees are expected to report on the progress of their research and participate in any activities the Hank Center develops to communicate this research—both inside and outside of Loyola University. Successful applicants are expected to submit a progress report and a final report that describes the outcomes of the funded research.

There are several funding tracks for our research awards, and applicants should be prepared to indicate the funding track for which they are applying. First, applicants will be asked to indicate whether they are applying for a summer, semester-long, or year-long award. Funding for individual researchers is capped at $3000 for summer and semester-long projects, and at $6000 for year-long projects. If research teams want to apply for funding beyond these caps, please contact us before submitting your application.

Applicants will also be asked to indicate whether research funds will be used to support (1) supplemental salary, (2) project expenses, or (3) a combination of (1) and (2). Supplemental salary is disbursed directly to awardees, and paid out in two installments--one towards the beginning of the award period, and the second at the end of the award period. Project expenses can include travel expenses, book purchases, conference registrations, etc. For proposals that include expenses to pay personnel--including staff, faculty, students, or other research collaborators or participants--please contact us before applying, as some of these expenses are allowable, and others are not.

Applications for projects taking place during Summer 2026 and Academic Year 2026-2027 will be due on January 16, 2026, and will be submitted through our application portal.

A completed application will include:

Project Description (of 900-1200 words) outlining the nature and scope of the project. This description should succinctly indicate the following elements:

Statement of significance, including principal research question(s) and proposed methodology
Outcomes: what the project aims to accomplish
Outputs: what deliverables will result from project activities (e.g. publication, colloquium, conference, interdisciplinary course, or lecture series).
Capacity for success: why project personnel are well-positioned to achieve project outcomes and deliver project outputs
Alignment: how the project is aligned to the Catholic/Ignatian intellectual (artistic, humanistic, cultural, scientific) heritage, and the mission of the Hank Center

Project timeline: a rough timeline for your project.

Project Budget: a one-page project budget with budget justification. Budget items can include supplemental salary or project expenses. As noted above, for proposals that include payments to personnel--including staff, other faculty, students, or other research collaborators or participants--please contact us before applying, as some of these expenses are allowable, and others are not. Computers are not supported by these funds because of the University Computer Replacement program.

Approval from Department Chair (to be completed through application portal)

All applications are reviewed and evaluated by the Hank Center Advisory Board. Proposals are judged based not only on the merit of the project in relation to topics of Catholic/Ignatian intellectual concern, but also the project’s clarity, focus, intended objectives, and likelihood of completion. The announcement of awards is made at the beginning of March.

Please direct any questions to Joe Vukov, Associate Director of the Hank Center, at jvukov@luc.edu.

The Ku Klux Klan and the Battle for Carnegie: Catholic Responses to Christian Nationalist Terrorism

John Donoghue

Associate Professor

Dr. Donoghue's research project is titled "The Ku Klux Klan and the Battle for Carnegie: Catholic Responses to Christian Nationalist Terrorism."

"Litigating Liberty: Freedom Suits in Early America"

Jeffrey Glover

Associate Professor

Dr. Glover's project is a study of people who sought freedom from slavery by filing lawsuits in court. It focuses on the legal arguments of enslaved plaintiffs and the challenge they posed to slavery as a form of tyrannical authority. Catholicism plays an important role in this story, particularly in the Catholic colony of Maryland, as plaintiffs who had been baptized in Africa by Spanish or Portuguese priests sued in Maryland's English courts on the grounds that Christians were not subject to enslavement. Such lawsuits offered profound meditations on questions of faith, race, and freedom.

"Cura for whom: The impact of a care mission on Jesuit campus staff of color."

Katherine S. Cho & Norma López

Assistant Professors, School of Education

While care within a Jesuit context is often an assumptive assertion within a university, this Narrative inquiry study seeks to explore what care means for the employees who are often called to care for the campus as a whole. Although staff are essential to campus communities, their distinct position in relation to academic freedom, tenure, and job security, compared to faculty, creates job insecurity and subtly reinforces a subordinate role within the broader higher education hierarchy (Cho & Brassfield, 2023; Marshall, 2016). Moreover, Catholic and Jesuit institutions have been found to adopt race-neutral stances that overlook racism within their mission and identity (Garcia et al., 2021) or to compromise their stated commitment to care when it comes to faculty of color (López et al., 2025). By centering the narratives of 20 campus staff of color (CSOC) who work at various Jesuit institutions, the semi-structured interviews aim to explore how Jesuit values navigate the nuances of institutional dynamics and types within Jesuit colleges and universities.