NEH Grant Workshop
University of Oregon
November 5, 2010
Summary
• About the Endowment
– How we spend our money
– Our grant-making divisions, partners, and
initiatives
• Application & Writing Strategies
– Grants.gov
– Tips & Tricks
– Peer Review
How NEH spends its money
• NEH’s Overall Budget (2009): US $155 million
• $26M for administration (salaries, rent)
• $35M distributed to 56 state and territory-based
humanities councils
• Remaining $94M given out as direct grants to
US institutions—particularly to universities,
libraries, and museums—and to individual
scholars
NEH Grant-making Divisions &
Offices
Challenge Grants
Education Programs
Public Programs
Research Programs
Preservation &
Access
Office of Digital Humanities
Office of Digital Humanities – grants to support innovative startup technology projects, training in digital humanities methods, and
collaborative (national / international) technology projects.
Office of Challenge Grants – matching grants for infrastructure
(buildings, endowments).
Division of Research – grants to scholars and institutions for
research projects (individual & collaborative).
Division of Education – grants for seminars for teachers,
curriculum development, & learning resources.
Division of Public Programs – grants for museum exhibits, library
programs, & media projects (e.g. documentary films).
Division of Preservation & Access – grants for preserving and
providing access to humanities materials; digitization; development of
reference materials.
Office of Digital Humanities (ODH)
• In 2006, the NEH launched
the Digital Humanities
Initiative (DHI) to help
coordinate efforts in
supporting and promoting
digital humanities scholarship,
teaching, and learning.
• In March of 2008, DHI was
made into a permanent NEH
office under the new name
“Office of Digital Humanities”
(ODH).
Recommendations from ACLS
Cyberinfrastructure Report
• Federal funding agencies and private foundations should
establish programs that develop and support expertise
in digital humanities… (Our Cultural Commonwealth, p.
6.)
• Universities and university consortia should develop new
and support existing humanities and social sciences
computing centers. (p. 6)
• NSF, NEH, IMLS, the Mellon Foundation, and other
funding agencies should support the development of
tools for the analysis of digital content. (p. 7)
• The NEA, NEH, and IMLS should work together to
promote collaboration…. (p. 7)
Core ODH Grant Programs
• Start-Up Grants
– Developing innovative practices (analysis, communication,
education)
• Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
– Developing expertise
• DFG/NEH Bilateral Digital Humanities Grants
– Developing collaboration
– Building infrastructure (data, tools, people)
• Digging Into Data
– What do you do with a million…?
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants
• Deadlines: February and October
• Designed to encourage innovations in the digital
humanities.
• Relatively low-dollar grants during the planning stages
– Level 1: up to $25,000
• Proof-of-concept, initial stages, brainstorming
– Level 2: from $25,001 to $50,000
• Prototyping
Digital Humanities Start-Up Grants
• Research that brings new approaches or documents best
practices in the study of the digital humanities.
• Planning and prototyping new digital tools for
preserving, analyzing, and making accessible digital
resources, including libraries' and museums' digital
assets.
• Scholarship that examines the philosophical implications
and impact of the use of emerging technologies.
• Innovative uses of technology for scholarly
communication, including formal and informal learning,
as well as new models of publication.
T-PEN
Digital image
Automated
encoding;
XML toolbox
Editing tools: dictionaries, unicode
character sets, abbreviation guides,
etc.
Andrew J. Torget, University of North Texas
Rada Mihalcea, University of North Texas
Jon Christensen, Stanford University
20,000,000
pages of
historical
newspapers
Me
Profound
Confusion
TextMining
Digital
Mapping
Profound
Insights
The Nyangwe Diary of David Livingstone:
Restoring the Text
Adrian S. Wisnicki
Project Director
Michael B. Toth
Program Manager
Fragile,
fading
manuscript
Livingstone
and
Stanley
Digital
Imaging
Massacre
in the
Congo
Collecting Online Music Project
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/08/01/opinion/01blow.ready.html
www.lib.washington.edu
Collecting Online Music Project
• Meeting of the heads of Music Libraries after
the Music Library Association Meeting in
March 2011.
• Develop a plan of action to begin addressing
this growing problem.
www.lib.washington.edu
OPOB
ARCHIVES
Musical settings
Iconography
RE-WRITINGS
Italian
French
Spanish
English
German
Russian
German
RERUM VULGARIUM FRAGMENTA
TRANSLATIONS
French
Spanish
English
Russian
German
Chinese
Japanese
INDIVIDUAL POEM
INFORMATION
Meter
Date
Place
Summary
Key-words
VERSIONS
ARCHIVES
Lectures
Essays
TOOLS
Commentaries
Paraphrases
Annotations
Comparisons
Conceptual maps
Poem basic
view in multiple
languages
Translations
Commentaries
Multimedia
Rewritings
keywords and
summaries
OPOB
Flexible views
OPOB
Institutes for Advanced Topics in
the Digital Humanities
• Supports national or regional (multi-state)
training programs on applications and approaches in
humanities computing
• Brings together humanities scholars and digital
technology specialists from different disciplines
to share ideas and methods that advance humanities
research through the use of digital technologies
• Prepares current and future generations of
humanities scholars to design, develop, and use
cyber-based tools and environments for research
Deadline for applications to
direct: February 16, 2011
Institutes
Institute for the Digital Humanities
Adrienne Russell & Lynn Clark, University of Denver
– A series of three workshops held over 18 months for twenty
humanities faculty and advanced graduate students on the use of
digital media in scholarship and teaching.
– Applications due December 15, 2010
Computer Simulations in the Humanities
Martin Croy, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
– A three week institute and follow up activities on the use of
computer simulations and modeling techniques in the
humanities for twenty four humanities scholars.
– Applications due November 15, 2010.
Institutes
NINES Summer Workshops: Emerging Issues in
Digital Scholarship
Andrew Stauffer, University of Virginia
– A two year series of summer workshops engaging scholars and
institutional administrators in concerns relating to peer review
and evaluation of digital scholarship in the humanities.
– Applications due December 1, 2010
Advanced Topics in TEI Encoding
Julia Flanders, Brown University
– A series of workshops to provide a more in-depth look at specific
encoding problems and topics for people who are already
involved in a text encoding project or are in the process of
planning one.
– Next workshop to be held at the University of Maryland in
January 2011
– Applications were due November 1st, but contact the project
director if interested.
Institutes
Institute for Globally Networked Learning in the
Humanities
Jon Rubin, SUNY, Albany
– A three year institute for 60 humanities scholars and staff that
includes a three day workshop, online discussion, and a capstone
conference on developing international team taught courses in
the humanities.
Broadening the Digital Humanities: The Vectors
CTS Summer Institute on Digital Approaches to
American Studies
Philip Ethington, University of Southern California
– A four week summer institute to explore ways digital scholarship
and new media publication can advance research in the fields of
American Studies and Ethnic Studies.
DFG/NEH Bilateral DH Grants
• Designed to spur collaborations between US and
German institutions to explore topics in the
digital humanities. Applicants must apply as a
team.
• Initiating or intensifying contact between
distinguished scholars, junior researchers,
scientists, librarians, information professionals,
and others working on humanities projects.
Deadline: November 16, 2010
Symposia/Workshops
• The "Big Digs" Go Digital (American School of Classical
Studies at Athens and the German Archaeological
Institute), on the application of digital technologies to
better preserve, study, and make accessible the data from
large-scale, long-term archaeological digs.
• Digital Music Notation Data Model and Prototype
Delivery System (University of Virginia and Universities
of Paderborn and Detmold), on developing methods,
standards, and software for a scholarly music notation
system.
Digging into Data
• Seeks to answer the question: “What do you do
with a million books?”
• Apply data analysis techniques to large
collections of diverse cultural heritage resources
• An international grant competition sponsored by
four leading research agencies: JISC, NEH, NSF,
SSHRC (perhaps additional ones in the future)
• Applications must be submitted by teams of
researchers involving at least two of the countries
represented by the funders
Railroads & the Making of
Modern America
• William Thomas,
University of
Nebraska-Lincoln,
NEH
• Richard Healey,
University of
Portsmouth, JISC
• Key point: Even institutions that don’t
receive a grant may well continue to work
together. These joint calls-for-proposals
serve as a motivator and stamp of approval
for international collaboration
US Partnerships
• National Science
Foundation
– Digging into Data
– Tools Curation
• Institute for Museum and
Library Services
– Start-Up Grants
– Tools Curation
• Department of Energy
– Humanities High
Performance Computing
www.neh.gov/odh
Library of Funded Projects
Other NEH Grant Opportunities
• Division of Preservation & Access – grants for preserving and
providing access to humanities materials; digitization; development
of reference materials
• Division of Research Programs – grants to scholars and
institutions for research projects (individual & collaborative)
• Division of Public Programs – grants for museum exhibits,
library programs, & media projects (e.g. documentary films)
• Division of Education Programs – grants for seminars for
teachers, curriculum development, & learning resources
• Office of Challenge Grants – matching grants for infrastructure
(buildings, endowments)
Preservation & Access
Grants to preserve
archival holdings;
enhance access to
materials; and
produce reference
works for scholarly
research, education,
and public
programming.
Preservation & Access
• Humanities Collections & Reference
Resources
– Deadline: July 14, 2011
• Research & Development
– Deadline: May 2011
Preservation & Access
• Preservation Assistance Grants
• Education & Training
• Documenting Endangered Languages
• National Digital Newspaper Project
Research
Grants support
individuals and teams
of scholars pursuing
advanced research in
the humanities that
will contribute to
scholarly knowledge
or to the general
public's
understanding of the
humanities.
Research
• NEH Fellowships
– Deadline: May 3, 2011
• Summer Stipends
– Deadline: September
2011
• Scholarly Editions /
Collaborative
Research
– Deadline: October
2011
Public Programs
Grants for the presentation
of humanities scholarship
for large and diverse
public audiences. Grants
typically support radio
and television
documentaries,
exhibitions and
interpretation of historic
sites, reading and
discussion series,
lectures, symposia, and
related components in
support of such
programs.
Public Programs
• America's Historical and Cultural
Organizations: Planning and
Implementation Grants
– Deadlines: January and August
• America's Media Makers:
Development Grants and Production
Grants
– Deadlines: January and August
Mission America
Education Programs
Grants to support
teachers to strengthen
teaching and learning
through new or
revised curricula and
materials,
collaborative study,
seminars, and
institutes.
Education Programs
• Seminars & Institutes
– Deadline: March 2011
• Landmarks of American History &
Culture
– Deadline: March 2011
• New programs to be announced in the
next few months
Summer Seminars and Institutes
2011 Seminars and Institutes for College & University Teachers
http://www.neh.gov/projects/si-university.html
(updated list should be available soon)
• Adjunct and part-time lecturers are eligible to apply. Qualified
independent scholars and those employed by museums, libraries,
historical societies, and other organizations may be eligible to compete
provided they can effectively advance the teaching and research goals of
the seminar or institute.
• Up to two seminar spaces and three institute spaces are reserved for
current full-time graduate students in the humanities.
• Summer Seminars and
Institutes for School
Teachers
• Landmarks of American
History and Culture for
School Teachers
• Landmarks of American
History and Culture for
Community College
Faculty
Office of Challenge Grants
• Permanent endowments,
supporting ongoing and
recurring costs such as
salaries, honoraria for
visiting scholars,
fellowships, and
maintenance
• One-time capital costs for
items such as facilities
equipment, and acquisitions
• Combined in “spend-down”
funds that are invested, with
both the income and the
principal expended over a
defined period of years
Deadline: May 4, 2011
Application Strategies
How do I apply?
Step One:
Visit the NEH
website
(www.neh.gov)
and READ THE
GUIDELINES.
How do I apply?
Really— Read
the Guidelines.
Step 2: Visit Grants.gov
Register!!!!
-Find out your AOR
-Get comfortable with the
Grants.gov system.
• Step Three: get samples and/or ask
questions
• Step Four: draft your application and get
someone to read it.
• Step Five: submit your application by the
deadline and wait…these things take time.
Additional Stages of Review
• The Staff
• The National Council on the
Humanities
• The Chairman – Jim Leach
30 years representing
southeastern Iowa in the U.S.
House of Representatives & the
John L. Weinberg Visiting
Professor of Public and
International Affairs at Princeton
University
Improve your chances for success
• Get a “why” or “why-not” letter with verbatim
comments made by the panelists
• Ask the staff to comment on a draft
application
• Ask for sample proposals
• Become a panelist or reviewer
Improve your chances for success
• Read applications for your institution
• Panelists will only know you’re applying again
if you tell them; bitter words about a previous
submission usually distract from your
argument and take up space
• If turned down, ask to see the panelists’
comments
• Reapply
NEH peer review
Some common misconceptions about peer-review
• The same panelist kills my application year after
year
• Only the elite schools are funded
• Panelists don’t understand my field
• You have to know someone at NEH to get a grant
• My application won’t get funded because NEH
doesn’t fund new approaches or work in my field
• Only senior scholars get funded
• It’s too early
Spell-Checker
Eye halve a spelling chequer;
It came with my pea sea.
It plainly marques four my revue;
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word;
And weight four it two say.
Weather eye am wrong oar write,
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid,
It nose bee fore two long.
And eye can put the error rite,
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it;
I am shore your pleased two no.
Its letter perfect awl the weigh;
My chequer tolled me sew.
Sauce Unknown
Spelling
and
Neatness
Count!
Other Opportunities
• MacArthur Foundation
– Digital Media and Learning Competition
• American Council of Learned Societies
– Digital Innovation Fellowships
Remember!
We’re here to help!
Thank you!
• General e-mail address:
odh@neh.gov
• Brett Bobley, Director
bbobley@neh.gov
• Michael Hall, Program Officer
mhall@neh.gov
• Jason Rhody, Program Officer
jrhody@neh.gov
• Jennifer Serventi, Program Officer
jserventi@neh.gov
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NEH Grant Workshop
University of Oregon
November 5, 2010