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NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES |
DIVISION OF EDUCATION PROGRAMS Summer Seminars and Institutes 1100 Pennsylvania Ave., NW Room 302 Washington, D.C. 20506 202/606-8463 |
NEH SUMMER INSTITUTES
FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY TEACHERS
APPLICATION INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
Summer Institutes for College and University Teachers are offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide college and university faculty members (and a small group of graduate students) with an opportunity to enrich and revitalize their understanding of significant humanities ideas, texts, and topics. These study opportunities are especially designed for this program and are not intended to duplicate courses normally offered by graduate programs. On completion of an institute, participants will receive a certificate indicating their participation. Prior to completing an application to a specific institute, please review the letter/prospectus from the institute director (available on the institute’s website, or as an e-mail attachment) and consider carefully what is expected in terms of residence and attendance, reading and writing requirements, and general participation in the work of the project.
Institutes are for 25 Summer Scholars, and provide intensive collaborative study of texts, topics, and ideas central to undergraduate teaching in the humanities under the guidance of faculties distinguished in their fields of scholarship. Institutes aim to prepare participants to return to their classrooms with a deeper knowledge of current scholarship in key fields of the humanities.
ELIGIBILITY
These projects are designed primarily for teachers of American undergraduate students. 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 institute. Applicants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline. Foreign nationals teaching abroad at non-U.S. chartered institutions are not eligible to apply.
Please note: Up to three institute spaces are reserved for current full-time graduate students in the humanities.
Applicants must complete the NEH application cover sheet and provide all the information requested below to be considered eligible. An applicant need not have an advanced degree in order to qualify. Adjunct and part-time lecturers are eligible to apply. Individuals may not apply to study with a director of an NEH Summer Institute who is a current colleague or a family member. Institute selection committees are advised that only under the most compelling and exceptional circumstances may an individual participate in an institute with a director or a lead faculty member who has guided that individual’s research or in whose previous institute he or she has participated.
Please note: An individual may apply to up to two projects in any one year (NEH Summer Seminars, Institutes or Landmarks Workshops for Community College Faculty), but may participate in only one.
SELECTION CRITERIA
A selection committee reads and evaluates all properly completed applications in order to select the most promising applicants and to identify a number of alternates. (Institute selection committees typically consist of three to five members, usually drawn from the institute faculty and staff members.) While recent participants are eligible to apply, selection committees are charged to give first consideration to applicants who have not participated in an NEH-supported Seminar, Institute or Landmarks Workshop in the last three years (2008, 2009, 2010).
The most important consideration in the selection of participants is the likelihood that an applicant will benefit professionally. This is determined by committee members from the conjunction of several factors, each of which should be addressed in the application essay. These factors include:
1. quality and commitment as a teacher, scholar, and interpreter of the humanities;
2. intellectual interests, in general and as they relate to the work of the institute;
3. special perspectives, skills, or experiences that would contribute to the institute;
4. commitment to participate fully in the formal and informal collegial life of the institute;
5. the likelihood that the experience will enhance the applicant’s teaching and scholarship;
When choices must be made among equally qualified candidates, several additional factors are considered. Preference is given to applicants who have not previously participated in an NEH Summer Seminar, Institute, or Landmarks Workshop, or who significantly contribute to the diversity of the institute.
STIPEND, TENURE, AND CONDITIONS OF AWARD
Individuals selected to participate in two-week projects will receive $2,100. Stipends are intended to help cover travel expenses to and from the project location, books and other research expenses, and living expenses for the duration of the period spent in residence. Stipends are taxable. Applicants to all projects, especially those held abroad, should note that supplements will not be given in cases where the stipend is insufficient to cover all expenses.
Institute participants are required to attend all meetings and to engage fully as professionals in the work of the project. During the project’s tenure, they may not undertake teaching assignments or any other professional activities unrelated to their participation in the project. Participants who, for any reason, do not complete the full tenure of the project must refund a pro-rata portion of the stipend.
At the end of the project’s residential period, participants will be asked to submit online evaluations in which they review their work during the summer and assess its value to their personal and professional development. These evaluations will become part of the project’s grant file and may become part of an application to repeat the institute.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
Before you attempt to complete an application, please obtain and read the “Dear Colleague Letter” here. The letter contains detailed information about the topic under study, project requirements and expectations of the participants, the academic and institutional setting, and specific provisions for lodging and subsistence.
All application materials for the “Ethnomusicology and Global Culture” institute must be sent to the institute manager at the below address. Application materials sent to the Endowment will not be reviewed.
CHECKLIST OF APPLICATION MATERIALS
A complete application consists of three copies of the following collated items:
- the completed application cover sheet,
- a detailed résumé, curriculum vitae, or brief biography, and
- an application essay as outlined below.
In addition, it must include two letters of recommendation as described below.
The application cover sheet
The application cover sheet must be filled out online at this address:
https://securegrants.neh.gov/education/participants/
Please fill it out online as directed by the prompts. When you are finished, be sure to click on the “submit” button. Print out the cover sheet and add it to your application package. At this point you will be asked if you want to fill out a cover sheet for another project. If you do, follow the prompts and select another project and then print out the cover sheet for that project. Note that filling out a cover sheet is not the same as applying, so there is no penalty for changing your mind and filling out cover sheets for several projects. A full application consists of the items listed above, as sent to a institute director or institute manager.
Résumé
Please include a detailed résumé, curriculum vitae, or brief biography (not to exceed five pages).
The Application Essay
The application essay should be no more than four double spaced pages. This essay should include any relevant personal and academic information. It should address reasons for applying; the applicant’s interest, both academic and personal, in the subject to be studied; qualifications and experiences that equip the applicant to do the work of the institute and to make a contribution to a learning community; a statement of what the applicant wants to accomplish by participating; and the relation of the project to the applicant’s professional responsibilities.
- Applicants to institutes may need to elaborate on the relationship between institute activities and their responsibilities for teaching and curricular development.
Reference Letters
The two referees may be from inside or outside the applicant’s home institution. They should be familiar with the applicant’s professional accomplishments or promise, teaching and/or research interests, and ability to contribute to and benefit from participation in the institute. Referees should be provided with the director’s description of the institute and the applicant’s essay. Applicants who are current graduate students should secure a letter from a professor or advisor. Please ask each of your referees to sign across the seal on the back of the envelope containing the letter. Enclose the letters with your application. As an alternative to including reference letters with your application, you may ask your referees to email their letters by March 1, 2011, to the institute manager at semexec@indiana.edu.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE
Completed applications for the “Ethnomusicology and Global Culture” institute should be mailed to the institute manager at the below address, postmarked no later than March 1, 2011.
Stephen Stuempfle, Institute Manager
Executive Director, Society for Ethnomusicology
Indiana University, Morrison Hall 005
1165 E. 3rd St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-3700
Successful applicants will be notified of their selection on Friday, April 1, 2011, and they will have until Tuesday, April 5 to accept or decline the offer.
Once you have accepted an offer to attend any NEH Summer Program (NEH Summer Seminar, Institute or Landmarks Workshop), you may not accept an additional offer or withdraw in order to accept a different offer.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY STATEMENT
Endowment programs do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age. For further information, write to the Equal Opportunity Officer, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506. TDD: 202/606‑8282 (this is a special telephone device for the Dea