William J. Fowler, Jr. & Patricia Fowler Education


Call for Nominations
 William J. Fowler, Jr. & Patricia R. Fowler
Education Finance Policy Research Grant

Deadline December 31, 2023


Please reach out to Eric Houck (eahouck@unc.edu), Christine Kiracofe (ckiracofe@purdue.edu), or Delia Allen (dr.deliaballen@gmail.com) with questions.


We welcome new scholars in the field of education finance to apply for the William and Patricia Fowler Award. The award supports promising graduate students focused on applied research for the improvement of education finance and budgeting practice. Sponsored by the generous contributions of Dr. William and Patricia Fowler and administered through the National Education Finance Academy (NEFA), it recognizes excellence among emerging education finance and policy scholars.

The mission of the National Education Finance Academy is to provide a non-partisan policy forum focused on education finance.  NEFA provides an international venue for annual collaboration among scholars, education practitioners, legislators, and policy researchers dedicated to understanding and improving education finance at all levels. The annual conference of the National Education Finance Academy (NEFA) is a wonderful opportunity to disseminate your research, and the award is an excellent recognition of promising contributions to the field.

In support of the NEFA mission, William and Patricia Fowler have provided a $3,000 education finance policy grant that recognizes and supports contributions to applied education finance. This generous contribution seeks to increase the disciplinary diversity of the nation's academic and organizational research personnel by increasing the number of education finance policy researchers that investigate the perennial issues of P-20 education finance, including questions of equity, adequacy, productivity, and efficiency. Awardees are announced in the year in which the award is granted and awardees are required to present the findings of their completed research in the subsequent year.  At the completion of their proposed research and presentation thereof at the NEFA conference, the awardee will receive the grant.

About William and Patricia Fowler

William and Pat Fowler have dedicated their professional lives to public service. Bill began his career as a public school teacher and obtained his master's and then doctorate from Columbia University in 1977. He subsequently worked for the New York State Department of Education as a research associate in school finance; CEMREL, Inc (Central Midwestern Regional Education Laboratory) in Chicago as a senior research associate; the New Jersey Department of Education as a supervisor of education finance research; and at the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC as the Program Officer for the Ed. Finance Statistical Center. He has taught at University of Illinois, Chicago Circle; Bucknell University; Virginia Tech, Northern VA Center; and George Mason University. He is an emeritus member of AERA, and past member of the American Education Finance Association, where he was a member of the Board of Directors. He received the Academy‘s prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2020.

William and Patricia Fowler Award 2023
Application Form: Due December 31, 2023

Application Requirements: Due December 31, 2023
(a) a cover letter;
(b) a project proposal - not to exceed 2000 words - that addresses issue to be investigated, research method or methodology, data description and sources, relevance of the issue to school finance policy; and,
(c) a letter of support from an academic or institutional researcher familiar with the proposed project (e.g., faculty member or supervisor).
(d) Submit materials using the form below.


Please note that NEFA does not discriminate on the basis of race, creed, religion, color, sex, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or disability.