Dartmouth College to Host Grant-Writing Workshop

Dartmouth College is pleased to host a Regional Grant-Writing Workshop with Stefanie Walker, Senior Program Officer at the NEH. Ms. Walker will be offering an extensive overview of NEH programs as well as a mock review panel on Feb. 12, 2019 between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.  

Between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. of the 12th, Ms. Walker will be available for one-on-one, 20-minute consultations with those who would like to share a one-page application abstract for any of the NEH’s programs. She will also offer consultations between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2019.

Please note that the event is free, and we will have refreshments as well as free parking. Both the overview of the NEH and the consultations can also be accessed remotely.

Early in January, a registration form, directions, an exact location for the workshop and consultations, as well as information about parking and remote access will be made available.

National Humanities Alliance Update on Government Shutdown

An update from the National Humanities Alliance concerning the impact of the possible government shutdown:

As the possibility of a partial government shutdown looms, we want to shed some light on which humanities programs will be affected if the government cannot reach a funding agreement by midnight tonight. While FY19 funding for some agencies has already been passed by Congress and signed by the president, those agencies whose funding has not yet been finalized will be shut down, including the NEH and several other humanities programs.

Both the Senate and the House have passed Interior appropriations bills that include funding for the NEH and the NEA at $155 million, a $2 million increase from FY18 levels. The House and Senate conference committee has yet to reconcile their two versions of the bill. As a result, NEH and NEA will be closed during the partial shutdown.

Status of Current NEH Grants

Congress has already appropriated the funds to cover the grants that the NEH has awarded, so grantees will receive those awards. However, our understanding from past shutdowns is that payments will be delayed while the agency is closed and that it may take additional time to clear out a backlog even after the agency reopens. The Grants.gov portal will remain open and grantees with reports due during the shutdown should still meet those reporting deadlines. Given that bills already passed in the House and Senate contain a $2 million increase over FY 2018, we anticipate that once the appropriations impasse is cleared, the NEH will be in a position fund a full year of grants.

Additional Shutdowns

The Woodrow Wilson Center, the Smithsonian Institution, the National Park Service, and the National Archives, which houses the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), will all be closed.

However, earlier this year, two “minibus” appropriations bills were passed and signed by President Trump. They included level funding for Title VI and Fulbright-Hays as well as funding increases for the Institute for Museum and Library Services and the Library of Congress. Therefore, these agencies and programs will remain open during the partial shutdown.

[…]

We will continue to keep you updated and will alert you if your voice has the potential to affect funding for humanities agencies and programs.

NEHC Wraps up its First Semester

Alexis Boylan, associate director of NEHC, has written a summary of NEHC’s first semester as an organization:

It has been an amazing first few months for NEHC. The Mellon Foundation allowed us to come out of the gate running with their generous award of $100,000. This funding supported two crucial pilot programs that kicked-off this fall. The first, is a program for schools to share visiting scholars. Our first speaker was Professor Kate Manne, who travelled from Amherst College to UConn, and finally Wellesley College for a week in early October. Her talks and presentations lit a fire across the three schools and proved the value of this kind of progressive intellectual exchange. Our next speaker will be Professor Mark Rifkin, coming the first week in March 2019. We are already working on plans to expand his voice beyond the three schools while he visits New England.

The second pilot program that kicked off this term is the Faculty of Color Working Group. This group will create outreach, mentoring, and support for the diverse faculty at NEHC schools. Organized and coordinated by Professor Melina Pappademos and Cathy Schlund-Vials the executive committee has met and a large conference is being planned for the Spring 2019. Stay-tuned for more on that event.

Finally, NEHC is planning to announce a call for proposals for its first round of seed-funded support grants for cross-NEHC collaborative projects. This is truly exciting for all of us as it marks another tangible move to creating strong and sustainable networks of scholarships across the region.

It has been a big year, and we are just getting started. Stayed tuned to our webpage, twitter, and facebook, for opportunities, news, and general humanities information. We are excited about the strength and voice we have together to promote humanities scholarship and activism.

Scroll to top