NEH Grant Workshop University of Oregon November 5, 2010.

NEH Grant Workshop

University of OregonNovember 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

Office of Digital Humanities

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Office of Digital Humanities – grants to support innovative start-up 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

Automated encoding; XML toolbox

Editing tools: dictionaries, unicode character sets, abbreviation guides, etc.

Digital image

Andrew J. Torget, University of North TexasRada Mihalcea, University of North Texas

Jon Christensen, Stanford University

Adrian S. WisnickiProject Director

Michael B. TothProgram Manager

Massacrein theCongo

LivingstoneLivingstoneandand

StanleyStanley

Fragile,Fragile,fadingfading

manuscriptmanuscript

DigitalDigitalImagingImaging

The Nyangwe Diary of David Livingstone:The Nyangwe Diary of David Livingstone:Restoring the TextRestoring the Text

www.lib.washington.edu www.lib.washington.edu

Collecting Online Music Project

www.lib.washington.edu

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/08/01/opinion/01blow.ready.html

www.lib.washington.edu www.lib.washington.edu www.lib.washington.edu

• 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.

Collecting Online Music Project

RE-WRITINGSRE-WRITINGSItalianItalianFrenchFrenchSpanishSpanishEnglishEnglishGermanGermanRussianRussianGermanGerman

TRANSLATIONSTRANSLATIONSFrenchFrenchSpanishSpanishEnglishEnglishRussianRussianGermanGermanChineseChineseJapaneseJapanese

INDIVIDUAL POEMINDIVIDUAL POEM

INFORMATIONINFORMATIONMeterMeterDateDatePlacePlace

SummarySummaryKey-wordsKey-words

TOOLSTOOLSCommentariesCommentariesParaphrasesParaphrasesAnnotationsAnnotationsComparisonsComparisons

Conceptual mapsConceptual maps

ARCHIVESARCHIVES

LecturesLecturesEssaysEssays

ARCHIVESARCHIVES

Musical settingsMusical settingsIconographyIconography

VERSIONSVERSIONS

RERUM VULGARIUM FRAGMENTARERUM VULGARIUM FRAGMENTA

OPOB

Translations

Commentaries

Multimedia

Poem basic view in multiple languages

keywords and summaries

Rewritings

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 researchDeadline for applications to direct: February 16, 2011

InstitutesInstitute 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.

InstitutesNINES Summer Workshops: Emerging Issues

in Digital ScholarshipAndrew 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.

InstitutesInstitute for Globally Networked Learning in

the HumanitiesJon 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 ProgramsGrants 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 andNeatnessCount!

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:

[email protected]

• Brett Bobley, [email protected]

• Michael Hall, Program Officer

[email protected]

• Jason Rhody, Program [email protected]

• Jennifer Serventi, Program Officer

[email protected]

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NEH Grant Workshop

University of OregonNovember 5, 2010