Slide 1
How the NEH defines humanities (via fields)
Interestingly, there's no room for writing in here. There's also little room for practitioners (e.g., no lawyers, no artists, no writers). Instead, there's a focus on modernist notions of critique and critical engagement.
Slide 2
Humanities Connections focuses on how the humanities connect with other fields
Slide 3
Deadline: 5 October
Funding: Up to $100,000
Duration: 18-36 months
Slide 4
Humanities Connections is a new program, so there's no data to draw from in terms of defining what works in past proposals.
Slide 5
The Basics
1. At least 3 linked courses at a single institution
2. Collaboration between fields/schools
3. Student engagement outside the classroom
Examples
students oversees
6. The funding cannot be used to pay students
Slide 6
Resources
Stages of the review process
1. Peer review panel
Slide 8
Grant Writing Tips
1. Prepare
Slide 9
Think about Your Audience
Slide 10
Attend to Details
Slide 11
Contacts
Questions
1. Only 1 proposal per institution?
mean?
of creating new courses)?
related to study abroad
speakers
courses?
learning/engagement?
track?
component, e.g., if they take one course and not
the others?
How the NEH defines humanities (via fields)
- Ethics & Law
- Languages & Linguistics
- Archaeology
- Philosophy & Religion
- History
- Literature
- Art History
Interestingly, there's no room for writing in here. There's also little room for practitioners (e.g., no lawyers, no artists, no writers). Instead, there's a focus on modernist notions of critique and critical engagement.
Slide 2
Humanities Connections focuses on how the humanities connect with other fields
Slide 3
Deadline: 5 October
Funding: Up to $100,000
Duration: 18-36 months
Slide 4
Humanities Connections is a new program, so there's no data to draw from in terms of defining what works in past proposals.
Slide 5
The Basics
1. At least 3 linked courses at a single institution
2. Collaboration between fields/schools
3. Student engagement outside the classroom
Examples
- UG research (involving communities, archives or other organizations or locations off campus, etc.)
- service learning
- civic engagement projects
- internships
students oversees
6. The funding cannot be used to pay students
Slide 6
Resources
- NEH website
- Humanities Connections grant guidelines
- Program officers
- bounce ideas off
- help think through articulation/clarify thoughts
Stages of the review process
1. Peer review panel
- comprised of academics and reps from educational orgs
- provide ratings and rationales for each proposal
- go over panel results
- write funding recommendations
- present results to national council
- 26 people appoint by the president and confirmed by Senate
- make decisions n staff recommendations
- send decisions to chairman for approval
- decisions announced in March
Slide 8
Grant Writing Tips
1. Prepare
- Read guidelines
- Talk to program officers
- Submit a draft proposal (due Sept. 5, 2016) to humaitiesconnections@neh.gov
- Start from the review criteria (section 5 in the guidelines)
- Intellectual quality
- Design quality
- Impact
- Show the project's intellectual significance
- First portion and most important part (but don't overlook the others)
- Demonstrate the significance of your work plan and make sure to show how it's doable
- Make it as concrete as possible
- Walk through the project carefully
- Demonstrate likely impact
Slide 9
Think about Your Audience
- Writing to the "educated generalist"
- Make your writing accessible and clear
- Avoid disciplinary jargon
- Address the review criteria
- Show reviewers that you know what you're doing
Slide 10
Attend to Details
- Include all the necessary supporting materials, e.g., letter from admin supporting the grant initiatives
- Draft early and get feedback
- Proofread
- Ask for comments and reapply if the grant isn't accepted
Slide 11
Contacts
- Jinlei Augst: jaugst@neh.gov 202.606.8396
- Julia Nguyen: jnguyen@neh.gov 202. 606.8213
- humanitiesconnections@neh.gov
Questions
1. Only 1 proposal per institution?
- No
mean?
- No projects that die when funding period ends
- Show buy in from the university and address long-term institutional impact
- Defined as connecting humanities to other fields
- Should be the crux of your intellectual rationale
- Can take place in one semester or across semesters
- The linked course should address a similar theme or question.
- Final proposal: 5 October 2016
- Draft proposal (emailed to humanitiesconnections@neh.gov): 5 Sept
- Yes, 5 Sept s the cut off.
- Look at guidelines and sample
- Cannot use money for foreign travel
- Cannot use it to play students
- Not replacement pay for teaching
- Can use for things like summer stipends for faculty, to buy out courses for directors, etc.
- New grant, so there's no data to base this on.
of creating new courses)?
- No firm guidelines
- They don't fund something that already exists or something that you will already be doing
- Consider how the funding will make something new possible
related to study abroad
- Study abroad is excluded in the sense for funding travel, but you could set up prep courses for the study abroad
speakers
- Bulk of the funding should be for infrastructure and planning, so that infrastructure continues to exist after the grant period ends
- Could use funding for a pilot or partnership
- Can use some funding for seminars and speakers, but it shouldn't be the bulk of the budget
courses?
- It needs to be a high-impact experience.
- It can be a companion to the course(s), but it needs to be substantial.
- Should be faculty member, not administrator
- Should be the Project Director/Co-Directors
- Has to be UG
learning/engagement?
- Yes, and that's not acceptable for the grant.
- (Think action research.)
- No. It should be within one university, but can be cross institutional in the sense of working with
- A community partner organization, archive, etc.
- Not necessarily; it depends on how your institution wants to work that out.
- Be sure to make the case for your model.
track?
- Yes
- They need to be in different disciplines (and not all humanities)
- No
- They can be included in the budget based on the amount of work they'll do.
component, e.g., if they take one course and not
the others?
- Yes. Don't design fail models. CE is REQUIRED! In fact, it's one of the main components of the grant, not simply interdisciplinarity.
- Don't be stupid, and don't ask stupid questions.
- Of course you can; you just look unserious and hurt both proposals.