Deadline: 22-Feb-22
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Education Programs is accepting applications for the Institutes for K-12 Educators program.
NEH Institutes are professional development programs that convene K-12 educators from across the nation in order to deepen and enrich their understanding of significant topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective teaching and scholarship.
Most fundamentally, institutes:
- allow immersive study of humanities topics
- foster new fields of study and/or revitalize existing areas of inquiry
- strengthen humanities teaching and learning in the classroom
- build lasting communities that foster participants’ intellectual and professional collaboration
Institutes should:
- ground the study in significant humanities texts and related resources
- explore multiple, rigorous approaches to the topic
- consider how the topic engages recent developments in the scholarship, teaching, and curricula of participants’ professional settings
- provide opportunities for deep and collaborative engagement with the topic
- model excellent scholarship, teaching, and collegial dialogue
- reach the widest possible audience for whom the topic is relevant
Topic and Intellectual Focus
An institute topic must be significant to humanities study and teaching. It may:
- consist of subject matter that supports regularly taught humanities courses
- address emerging or overlooked humanities fields
- include attention to pedagogies and/or methodologies, provided the humanities content remains central
- be interdisciplinary, provided the humanities remain central
Funding Levels
Institutes for K-12 Educators are awarded at two levels: Level I and Level II.
- Level I: Open only to projects that are new or have not been previously funded by NEH. This level supports preparation for and execution of an institute, as well as moderate follow up and outreach.
- Level II: Required of previously-funded projects and optional for first-time projects. In addition to Level I activities, this level requires a robust program of dissemination activities beyond the participant audience.
Funding Information
- You may request up to $235,000, depending on the funding level and the duration of your proposed institute.
- Level I
- One week: $120,000
- Two weeks: $175,000
- Three weeks: $200,000
- Four weeks: $220,000
- Level II
- One week: $135,000
- Two weeks: $190,000
- Three weeks: $215,000
- Four weeks: $235,000
- Level I
- NEH expects to have approximately $1,500,000 to fund an estimated nine recipients.
- All projects must have a start date of October 1, 2022.
- Level I projects have a period of performance of 15 months, ending on December 31, 2023.
- Level II projects have a period of performance of 24 months, ending on September 30, 2024.
Roles
The project team should include the following roles:
- Project director or co-director team (required): Directors should be established scholars; they are responsible for all intellectual and administrative aspects of the project. They must be present throughout the academic program and cannot assume any other commitments during the duration of the institute.
- Replacement director(s): The replacement director(s) must be appropriately qualified and capable of assuming leadership of the project should a director become unable to fulfill their role. The replacement director(s) may be a co-director or project team member, as appropriate, who is already familiar with the project.
- K-12 leader: At least one person with demonstrated excellence and leadership experience in the K-12 classroom and K-12 curriculum development must be involved in project planning and implementation.
- Project faculty and academic staff: Individuals, such as library or museum personnel, may bring different perspectives and/or resources to the project. Applicants should carefully consider how the number of project faculty, their expertise and approaches, and the nature of their involvement will generate meaningful engagement with participants.
- Technological experts: Such person(s) may be needed to meet the digital demands of the project.
- Project administrators: These individuals (which may include co-directors, professional managers, graduate students, or on-site coordinators) would provide planning assistance, administrative support, and/or on-site logistical coordination to ensure that the institute runs effectively for scholars and participants.
- Institutional grants administrator (required): This person is the designated representative of the applicant institution with authority to act on the organization’s behalf in matters related to the administration of NEH awards.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants include U.S. nonprofit organizations with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, public and 501(c)(3) accredited institutions of higher education, state and local governmental agencies, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments.
- An eligible entity may apply on behalf of a consortium of collaborating organizations. The lead applicant would be programmatically, legally, and fiscally responsible for the award.
- Eligible applicants acting as fiscal agents or fiscal sponsors may not apply on behalf of ineligible applicants.
- Individuals, foreign, and for-profit entities are not eligible to apply.
- Eligible applicants may submit multiple applications for separate and distinct projects under this notice.
- To be eligible for Level I, a project must be new or not previously funded by NEH. Level I projects are not revisions of previously-funded NEH professional development projects (Summer Seminars and Institutes or Landmarks of American History and Culture workshops). Applicants are encouraged to consult program staff if they wish to discuss whether they should apply for a Level I or Level II award.
- As a matter of programmatic policy, NEH will not make awards in the Institutes for K-12 Educators program for the same project (that is, a project with essentially the same topic and faculty team, regardless of level) in consecutive years. For example, if a recipient was funded in 2021 (for a 2022 offering), they are not eligible to apply for the same project in 2022 (for a 2023 offering). As a matter of programmatic policy, directors who have postponed an NEH professional development project to 2023 may not apply in 2022 for what would be a second project in 2023. Directors who are unsure about the applicability of this policy should consult with program staff.
For more information, visit https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=336566