NEH

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NEH

• The time has come

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The Humanities

• Without words, without writing and without books
  there would be no history, there could be no
  concept of humanity. ??Hermann Hesse

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Mission Statement

• NEH programs help institutions improve their
  humanities programs or resources or
  individuals pursuing advanced research that
  contributes to scholarly knowledge or to the
  public's understanding of the humanities.
  Recipients usually produce scholarly articles,
  monographs on specialized subjects, books on
  broad topics, archaeological site reports,
  translations, editions, or other scholarly
  tools.

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Clarification Mission Statement

• The mission of the NEH is to fundthe humanities.
• Clarification Humanities ONLY work, please.
• NEH will invest in permanent advance of
  humanities on a campus.
• NEH will want others locked out, i.e. go to
  National Science Foundation to advance work of
  biologists or psychologists.
• Campuses are becoming interdisciplinary, but
  federal funding is still disciplinary.

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NEH Programs

• Three Types
• Institutional-Level
• Individual-Level
• In-between Level
• In-between Example Faculty Humanities
  Workshops
• Core group of faculty pursue collaborative
  humanistic inquiry by drawing on expertise within
  their institution and without (visiting scholars,
  new resources).
• Check out NEH Grant Guide

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NEH Programs

• Example Institutional-Level Programs
• Challenge Grants
• Planning Grants
• Preservation and Access Grants for institutions
• Summer Institutes
• Hosted by individual colleges for visiting
  faculty/scholars
• Timely Grants
• Rediscovering Afghanistan Program
• Chairmans Emergency Grants Hurricane Katrina

Due to limited number of proposals, NEH program
officers are able to review and respond to
preliminary drafts.
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NEH Programs

• Examples Individual-Level Grants
• Fellowships (academic year)
• Summer Stipends
• Preservation and Access Grants for individuals
• Summer Seminars
• Apply to attend as a participant Request
  Application.
• Receive stipend for travel, lodgings, and
  research expenses
• Range of topics and length (two to six weeks)
• 15 participants work with 1-2 leading scholars

Due to overwhelming number of submissions, NEH
program officers can not read and respond to
initial drafts.
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Deadlines

• Like most federal agencies or foundations, the
  NEH has multiple grant awards that it posts
  annually. Check out NEH's Grants Programs and
  Deadlines.
• Sample annual grants, with deadlines
• Challenge grant May 1 and Nov 1
• Digital Humanities Workshops Jan 17
• Summer Stipends October 2
• Preservation and Access grants July 3
• Summer Seminars March 1

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Sample Cornerstone 1Summer Seminars

• Faculty who participate can
• Develop sense of directions in field
• See design of humanities programs
• Meet other humanities scholars
• Discuss their ideas and those of colleagues
• Be energized, renewed, inspired

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Sample Cornerstone 2Summer Stipends

• Summer Stipend criteria are exemplary for NEH
  grant applications.
• Common elements Project Abstract, Project
  Narrative, Bibliography, Letters of Support
• You can get a quick handle on the NEH application
  process because Summer Stipends are a small
  program (5,000).
• Often, faculty begin with NEH Summer Seminars or
  Summer Stipends to establish good track record
  and position themselves for larger NEH grants.

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Springtimeand Summer Stipends
NEH submission August 1 October 2 NEH posting
April BEGIN in SPRING 6 months allows
for Research and conception of project
Ample peer reading and response Institutional
review and nomination
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Full-dress Proposal

• ? Attitude and presentation are critical in a
  highly competitive field. Fred Winter, Program
  Officer, NEH Challenge Grants.
• ? Read with care the precise aims and criteria
  at NEH Summer Stipend Guidelines (or another
  targeted program).
• ? Highest award rate 2nd submission revised
  according to prior response.

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Full-dress Proposal

• Great Tip request sample proposal
• Go to NEH Summer Stipends (or targeted program).
• Select Previously-Funded Summer Stipends (menu
  on right).
• Select one and email request to stipends_at_neh.gov.
• Have a friend (or two) request another sample.
• You will discover the NEH project narratives are
  uniquely dense. You will then know what you have
  to doand you can do it!

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Project Narrative

• Statement of Need or Intent is insufficient
  because NEH awards are highly competitive.
• Convey ideas, objectives, and methods of your
  project.
• Clarify contribution of your project to
  humanities scholarship.
• Present plans to disseminate your findings to the
  field and potentially the public.

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Project Narrative

• Strategy How to best convey ideas, objectives,
  and methods of your project.
• Open with goals (guiding principles)
• Identify strategies and activities to realize
  goals
• Project outputs
• Set outcomes (short term long term projected)
• Map evaluation (formative and summative)

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Project Narrative

• Strategy How to draft great objectives that
  convince reviewers you can successfully move from
  Goal to Outcomes? Write SMART objectives
• Specific (target population/materials)
• Measurable (quantifiable)
• Achievable (plausible possible)
• Results-oriented
• Time-bound (have deadlines)

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How To Be Convincing Process Details

• Do not write, I will present my findings at
  professional conferences and journal articles.
• Do write, I will present a series of three
  papers on Civic Leadership Development among
  First Americans at the Wye Faculty Seminar, and
  based on audience response I will then edit the
  papers for publication in American Journal of
  Political Science.
• This establishes your academic street cred.

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How To Be Convincing Evidentiary Details

• Do not write, I have a good track record with
  sucessfully completing grants.
• Do write, I have completed three grants during
  my six years as an assistant professor. I was
  awarded an Ira G. Zepp Teaching Enhancement Grant
  to develop curricular materials for
  departmental-wide art history classes, and I was
  awarded two Arts in Education grants to develop
  community arts classes for underserved
  populations.
• Result more academic street cred.

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How To Be Convincing Illustrative Details

• Do not write, I detail how the goddess Diana was
  a model for the modern female hero in the English
  novel.
• Do write, I details how the goddess Diana, the
  chaste huntress whose domain over natural life
  was a symbol of the moons powers, served as the
  modern female hero in the English novel from
  Dafoe to Joyce.
• Result most academic street cred.

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5 Review Criteria

• (1) The intellectual significance of the project
  to the humanities
• (2) The quality of the applicant's work as an
  interpreter of the humanities
• (3) The quality of the conception, definition,
  organization, and description of the project
• (4) The feasibility of the work plan.
• (5) The applicants capability to complete that
  work plan.

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Help Is All Around

• Ask colleagues in the field for feedback.
• Ask grants associate to respond.
• Ask any knowledgeable persons to read and
  discuss.
• The NEH will have knowledgeable persons as your
  reviewers for all grants. Sometimes the NEH
  describes these as nonspecialist reviewers.
  Target generalist expert.

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Formatting

• ESSAY (translation highly readable for general
  reviewers)
• Save all proposal material as plain text.
• Edit and proofread to perfection.
• Cut and paste closely-edited materials into
  online application forms.
• If you type in materials anew, you will likely
  have typos, etc.

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Formatting

• Summer Stipend Example
• You are given 12,500 characters (includes spaces
  and punctuation).
• Use run-in headers to save spaces yet clarify
  organization for readers.
• Use single space (not double) after period to
  save spaces.
• Do not use bold, italics, underlining, or curly
  quotes.
• Use plain quote marks or all upper case for book
  titles.
• Avoid ltgt (signals http// address).

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Project Statement

• Write last. Write after you have fully conceived
  your project
• This is a 120-word brief description of your
  project
• This creates first impression of your project
  with reviewers
• Launch this with title that clarifies your
  projects substance.
• Its part of Application Cover Sheet
• Write, edit, proofread, then cut-and-paste this
  clean text into the application

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Bibliography

• Limit 570 words/one single-spaced page
• List primary and secondary sources that relate
  directly to your project.
• Sources can relate directly to the substance,
  theory, or methods of your project.
• Do not duplicate references within the Project
  Narrative.
• Format tip Place title in straight quotes or
  make all caps plain text e-submissions do not
  recognize curly quotes, italics, or underlining,
  and will think angle brackets ltgt signal a
  hyperlink.

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Letters of Reference

• General Limit 2
• Preferred Two external references because you
  are presenting evidence of the significance of
  your work to the field (not to your institution).
• One can be internal.
• The other should be external.
• Former dissertation advisors or committee members
  are discouraged.
• Try editors of journals who published your work.
• Try co-panelists from conferences.
• Try colleagues at other institutions.

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Supplementary Materials

• In general, no supplementary materials are
  allowed for Summer Stipends. You make your entire
  argument in the project narrative.
• Three exceptions
• Sample of a translation
• Sample of a new database
• Sample of new edition
• Limit 570 words/one single-spaced page

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SAVE and Edit

• Test Drive the grants online application
  system.
• Save your application, and you are free to
  revise and edit it.
• Submit your application, and its gone forever.
  
• You can edit your application online until the
  final deadline (October 2).

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College Nomination

• Write one-page abstract after your project is
  fully conceptualized.
• Submit to Faculty Grants Associate by September
  1.
• All abstracts are forwarded to appropriate
  administrators.
• Two nominees will be chosen in a timely manner.
• Members of Grants Committee will usually
  volunteer to be additional readers and responders
  to your draft.

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Test of Endurance

• NEH encourages applicants to read reviewers
  comments, then revise and re-submit.
• New reviewers each year, so none will recognize a
  revised proposal.
• Good number of proposals in any year are revised
  ones.
• To obtain reviewers comments, email
  stipends_at_neh.gov.

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Final Thought

• By the paper alone shalt they know you. Fred
  Winter, NEH Program Officer, NCURA national
  conference, Nov 5-8, 2006, Washington, D.C.