NEH’s Humanities Initiatives grant program seeks to strengthen the teaching and study of the humanities at colleges and universities through the development of new humanities programs, resources, or courses, or through the enhancement of existing ones. Projects may be one to three years in length and must be organized around a core topic or set of themes drawn from areas of study in the humanities, such as history, philosophy, religion, literature, and composition and writing skills.
Humanities Initiatives projects may support activities such as, but not limited to:
- curricular planning and/or community and relationship building that support the institutional mission;
- creation of bridge programs for first-year, first-generation, at-risk, nontraditional, and/or secondary-school students;
- creation or revision of composition and other courses that focus on close reading, analytical writing, and/or effective speaking in order to incorporate humanities methods and resources;
- new or enhanced humanities programs, including new majors, minors, certificates, or concentrations, honors programs, first-year seminars, culturally-relevant or place-based curricula, and capstone courses;
- opportunities for faculty members to study together, in order to improve their capacity to teach the humanities;
- creation or enhancement of humanities resources for the purpose of teaching, including oral histories, literature or film, teaching modules, or guidelines on how to use humanities resources in the classroom;
- development of curriculum-focused digital humanities projects, including podcasts, mapping tools, or digital resources for distance learning;
- partnerships and collaborative projects in the humanities (for example, dual-enrollment agreements in humanities-based courses for college or high-school students);
- collaboration with regional museums, libraries, or historical societies to share resources for teaching and learning; or partnering with a school or school system to strengthen K12 pathways to higher education; and
- projects that bring together multiple institutions of higher education or campuses within a district or system for the purpose of curricular development.
Humanities Initiatives projects are funded up to $150,000. The period of performance is one to three years.
Optional narrative draft review due: Thursday, April 8, 2021
Application deadline: Thursday, May 20, 2021
Expected notification date: Friday, December 17, 2021