Humanities Connections | 20181017 AKA

Opportunity Information: Apply for 20181017 AKA

Humanities Connections is a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant program designed to strengthen and expand the place of the humanities within undergraduate education at both two-year and four-year colleges and universities. The central idea is to support curriculum-focused projects that bring humanities faculty into sustained, productive partnership with faculty in disciplines outside the humanities, including the social sciences, natural sciences, and professional or pre-professional programs such as business, engineering, health sciences, law, computer science, and other technology-oriented fields. The aim is to create new integrative learning opportunities where students can connect humanistic questions, methods, and perspectives to the kinds of problems and practices they encounter across the wider curriculum.

Competitive proposals are expected to do three things well. First, they should tackle a significant, clearly defined issue or opportunity in undergraduate education that matters at the applicant institution or across partner institutions. Second, they should intentionally cultivate the intellectual skills and habits of mind associated with the humanities, such as critical interpretation, ethical reasoning, historical and cultural awareness, argumentation, and careful analysis of texts, artifacts, and human experience. Third, they should show that meaningful cross-disciplinary collaboration will benefit both faculty and students, improving teaching and learning through shared design, shared instruction, and shared educational goals rather than one-off cooperation.

Projects funded under Humanities Connections are expected to include four core features. They must integrate content and pedagogy from at least two disciplines, with at least one discipline in the humanities and at least one outside the humanities. They must be built on collaboration among faculty from at least two separate departments or schools, and that collaboration can occur within a single institution or across multiple institutions. They must include experiential learning as a built-in element of the curricular plan, meaning students learn through applied, hands-on, or real-world engagement tied directly to the curriculum rather than only through traditional classroom work. Finally, the proposed curricular innovations need evidence of long-term institutional support, signaling that the program is intended to be sustainable and embedded in the institution beyond the grant period.

NEH offers funding at two levels: Planning Grants and Implementation Grants. Planning Grants last up to twelve months and are meant for institutions that need time and structured support to design a new, coherent curricular program or initiative. These grants focus on organizing an interdisciplinary planning process, forming a planning committee, clarifying the rationale for the program, developing the design and structure needed for an institutionally sustainable effort, and mapping out realistic scenarios for curriculum development. Institutions can build from existing short-term efforts or departmental initiatives, but the planning period should culminate in a project that is prepared to move directly into implementation or is already in an implementation-ready stage.

Implementation Grants last up to three years and support putting a sustainable curricular program or initiative into practice. Applications for implementation funding must show clear evidence that substantive planning has already occurred. They also must present a well-defined rationale, along with specific intellectual and logistical objectives, backed by institutional commitment. Implementation funding is intended to help institutions deepen and refine partnerships, develop and strengthen the curriculum, and expand the project in a way that is durable. Strong implementation proposals typically document partner commitments, explain concrete approaches to curriculum building or consolidation, and lay out outreach strategies for recruiting and retaining students in the new learning opportunity.

This opportunity is a discretionary grant program (CFDA 45.162) offered by NEH. Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education and private institutions of higher education. The funding opportunity listed an award ceiling of $100,000. The opportunity referenced had an original closing date of October 17, 2018 (Funding Opportunity Number 20181017), indicating this summary reflects that specific posted cycle and its stated parameters.

• The National Endowment for the Humanities in the humanities sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Humanities Connections" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 45.162.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2018-08-23.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2018-10-17. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $100,000.00 in funding.
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for 20181017 AKA

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