Fellowships
& summer stipends--NEH
FELLOWSHIPS
AND SUMMER STIPENDS
202/606-8200
Division of Research Programs
fellowships@neh.gov
<mailto:fellowships@neh.gov>
stipends@neh.gov
<mailto:stipends@neh.gov>
Goals of the
Program
Fellowships and
Summer Stipends are opportunities for individuals to pursue advanced
work in the humanities. Applicants may be faculty or staff members of
colleges or universities, or of primary or secondary schools, and
scholars and writers.
Projects may
contribute to scholarly knowledge or to the general public's
understanding of the humanities. Recipients might eventually produce
scholarly articles, a monograph on a specialized subject, a book on a
broad topic, an archaeological site report, a translation, an edition,
or other scholarly tools.
Fellowships and
Summer Stipends support projects that can be completed during the tenure
of an award or those that are part of a long-term endeavor.
Applicants need
not have advanced degrees, but only scholars who have completed their
formal academic training are eligible to apply. If an applicant has
completed all of the official requirements for the degree and is
awaiting only the formal award, certification that all requirements have
been met by the application deadline must be submitted by the dean of
the school awarding the degree.
A person may
apply separately for both an NEH Fellowship and an NEH Summer
Stipend--and to other NEH programs as well--though an individual
applicant may not hold more than one NEH award in any given fiscal or
calendar year.
NEH Fellowships
and Summer Stipends do not support projects to study teaching methods or
theories. Neither do they support surveys of courses and programs or the
preparation of institutional curricula.
Fellowships
Funds,
tenure, and conditions for fellowships
Tenure normally
covers an uninterrupted period of from six to twelve whole months. A
grant of $40,000 is for nine to twelve months. A grant of $24,000 is for
six to eight months.
Fellows may hold
other fellowships or grants during fellowship tenure, including
sabbaticals and grants from their own institutions.
A full-time
fellow must devote full time to the project and may not accept a
teaching assignment or undertake any other major activity. Part-time
fellowships can be awarded under exceptional circumstances, such as when
some essential, non-teaching activities cannot be relinquished. A
part-time fellow must devote at least one-half time to the fellowship
project for up to a maximum of 24 whole months. A part-time fellow may
not undertake any other major activity other than that finally agreed on
between the Endowment and the fellow.
The earliest
that fellows may begin tenure is January 1, 2002. The latest that
fellows who are teachers may begin tenure is the start of the spring
term of the 2002-2003 academic year. The latest that fellows who are not
teachers may begin tenure is April 1, 2003. Tenure periods for teachers
must include at least one complete term of the academic year.
Applicants
should request periods of tenure that suit their schedules and the needs
of their projects. A request for a shorter tenure period will not
improve the chances of receiving an award.
Who is
eligible?
Applicants for
Fellowships fall into one of two categories: University Teachers
and College Teachers/Independent Scholars, depending on the
nature of the institution or institutions where they have been employed
or if they have had no institutional affiliation. For applicants whose
positions change near the application deadline, eligibility will be
based on affiliation during the academic year before the deadline, not
after it. A person may submit only one NEH Fellowships application in a
given year.
University
Teachers are at least one of the following:
• individuals who are teaching part-time or full-time in
a college or university department that grants the Ph.D. degree
• individuals
with part-time or full-time appointments to a central graduate school,
either on their own campus or another campus, that grants the Ph.D.
degree
• individuals
who are affiliated with a postgraduate professional school
• individuals
who are affiliated part-time or full-time in any capacity with colleges
or universities that grant the Ph.D. degree in the same general subject
area as their proposed project
• retired
individuals who have held such positions.
College
Teachers/Independent Scholars are at least one of the following:
• part-time or full-time faculty and staff members of
two-year and four-year colleges and universities that do not grant the
Ph.D. degree
• part-time
or full-time faculty members of universities in departments that do not
grant the Ph.D. degree (as long as the Ph.D. degree is not granted in
the same general subject area as their project through another
department, program, or college on their campus)
• individuals
employed part-time or full-time in any nonteaching capacity at a
university as long as the Ph.D. degree is not granted on their campus in
the same general discipline as their project
• individuals
employed by institutions other than colleges and universities, such as
primary or secondary schools, museums, libraries, etc.
• retired
individuals who have held such positions
• individuals
working independently
Persons whose
situations do not fit into any of the above categories should explain
their circumstances in a letter attached to the application, and NEH
staff will then assign them to the appropriate category.
Although the
vast majority of Fellowships are for one-person projects, scholars who
propose to work on specific portions of larger, multiple-person projects
may apply. In such cases, each application should describe the total
project and the specific responsibilities of that scholar within it. Two
or more scholars working together and seeking support for a broad range
of project costs should consider applying to the Collaborative Research
program.
Previous
fellowships held by the applicant
A person seeking
funding for a project that has previously received NEH Fellowships
support is eligible. Panelists will be asked whether the applicant's
record indicates that the previous grant was put to good use and whether
the project warrants a second NEH Fellowship.
When is the
deadline?
• Fellowships applications must be received between March
1 and the deadline of May 1.
• The Endowment acknowledges receipt of Fellowships applications in
mid-to-late May.
• Applicants will be notified of the decisions on their applications
by early December.
• Fellowships can begin January 1.
Projects on
postwar Germany
The National
Endowment for the Humanities, the German Historical Institute, and the
American Institute for Contemporary German Studies have formed a
collaborative partnership to support scholarly research on continuity,
change, and globalization in postwar Germany and America. As
appropriate, applicants successful in the competition for NEH
Fellowships may be invited by the GHI and the AICGS to participate in
this program. The program is intended to enrich scholarly work supported
by the NEH, the GHI, and the AICGS by heightening communication and
collaboration between American and German scholars and, through
workshops and symposia, by making the results of the partnership
available to audiences more quickly.
Summer
Stipends
Funds,
tenure, and conditions for summer stipends
Each Summer
Stipend provides $5,000 for two consecutive, uninterrupted months of
full-time independent study and research. Summer Stipends recipients may
hold other research grants during the tenure of their awards, but they
must devote full time to their projects for the two months of their
tenure.
Summer Stipends
normally support work carried out during the summer months, but
arrangements can be made for holding tenure at other times of the year.
Persons planning to begin after April 30, 2002, should apply to the
October 1, 2001 deadline.
Nomination
All applicants
teaching in colleges and universities must be nominated by their
institutions, with the exceptions noted below. Each institution should
designate a nominating official, usually an academic vice president or
dean, who must sign the application cover sheet.
Each college and
university in the United States and its jurisdictions may nominate two
members of its faculty for the Summer Stipends competition. Of the two,
at least one should be a junior nominee. Applicants who hold the rank of
instructor or assistant professor or who are at comparably early stages
of their careers will be considered junior nominees. Those holding the
rank of associate professor or professor will be considered senior
nominees.
Each institution
should announce its nominating procedures to all prospective applicants.
Those wishing to apply should become familiar with their institution's
nomination procedures well before the application deadline of October 1.
All applications
that require nomination must be signed by the officer authorized to
submit the institution's nominations. The nominating official should
also send a letter to the Summer Stipends program giving the names of
the institution's nominees.
Exceptions to
nomination
There are three
exceptions to the nomination requirement:
1. Independent scholars not affiliated with a college or
university are eligible to apply without nomination to the Summer
Stipends program.
2. Nonfaculty
college and university staff members are eligible for the Summer
Stipends program. They may apply without nomination provided that they
will not be teaching during the academic year preceding the grant
tenure.
3. Adjunct
faculty and academic applicants with appointments terminating by the
summer of the grant tenure may apply without nomination.
Recent grants
and fellowships held by the applicant
Persons who have
held a major fellowship or research grant or its equivalent within the
last 3 academic years are ineligible for NEH Summer Stipends. A
"major fellowship or research grant" is a postdoctoral
research award that provides a stipend of at least $10,000. Sabbaticals
and grants from a person's own institution are not considered major
fellowships, nor are stipends and grants from other sources supporting
study and research during the summer.
Summer Stipends
recipients must wait five years before they are eligible to apply again
to the program. So, persons who have held Summer Stipends in 1997 or
later are not eligible to apply for 2002 awards.
When is the
deadline?
• Summer Stipends applications must be received between August
1 and the deadline of October 1.
• Applicants will be notified of the decisions on their applications
by early April.
• Summer Stipends can begin by May 1.
How Will
Proposals Be Evaluated?
The following
criteria will be used in evaluating applications for Fellowships and
Summer Stipends:
1. the significance of the contribution that the project
will make to knowledge in the specific field and to the humanities
generally
2. the quality
or the promise of quality of the applicant's work as an interpreter of
the humanities
3. the quality
of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the
project
4. the
likelihood that the applicant will complete the project
Preparing a
proposal
The completed
application will consist of the following parts.
1.
Application Cover Sheet
Note that
Fellowship applicants will need to indicate in section 2, under
Category, whether he/she is a university teacher or college
teacher/independent scholar. Both Fellowship and Summer Stipend
applicants should indicate on the Status Line whether they are junior or
senior scholars. In section 13, all applicants to Fellowship or Summer
Stipends should give the names and institutional affiliations of their
referees.
2. Narrative
The narrative is
the only demonstration that evaluators will have of the substance of the
project, the contribution it can make to humanities scholarship or
teaching, and its general quality. The text must include details about
the ideas, objectives, and methods of the project. A simple statement of
need or intent is insufficient evidence that a project merits support.
Because some evaluators will not possess specialized knowledge of the
proposed field of study, the description should be free of jargon.
The narrative
description of the proposed study should not exceed three single-spaced
or six double-spaced typed pages.
The description
of the project should address the following questions.
a) What are the basic ideas, problems, works, or questions
the study will examine? What is the planned approach or line of thought?
If the area is new to the applicant, what are the reasons for working in
it?
b) Is the
project in the beginning stages or well under way? What are the plans
for each stage, and how does the part of the study to be done during the
tenure of the grant relate to the whole? There should be a proposed
schedule or plan of work that the applicant will follow during the
grant. When applicants propose projects for books, panelists generally
find it helpful to review a tentative chapter outline that suggests the
direction the work will take. If the application is for a part-time
fellowship, what is the necessity of holding the fellowship for
part-time rather than full-time tenure?
c) What
contribution is the project likely to make to the humanities? Especially
in cases where the subject of the study might appear narrow or obscure,
the proposal should show the project's larger significance.
d) How will the
project complement, challenge, or expand relevant studies in the field?
What is distinctive about the study?
e) For what
audience are the results of the study intended? What kind of product is
planned?
f) What is the
relationship of the project to the applicant's long-range development as
an interpreter of the humanities?
g) What is the
applicant's competence in the languages needed for the study?
h) At what
location(s) will the applicant conduct the study and what materials will
be used? What is the likelihood of access to archives, collections, or
institutions with necessary resources?
3.
Edition/Translation Sample
Applicants
submitting editions or translations should include a two-page sample.
One of the two pages should be a copy of the original; the other should
be the same material as edited or translated.
4. Database
Sample Entry
Applicants
submitting database projects should include on a single page a sample
entry showing the proposed format and contents.
5.
Bibliography
Following the
description of the project the applicant should include a one-page list
of publications by other scholars, or primary materials that the
applicant has used or plans to use and that are relevant to the project.
This list of readings and resource materials is vital because reviewers
use it to determine applicant's preparation in the subject, the
applicant's interests, and the approach to the topic.
6. Résumé
The résumé
should be in concise, outline form and should not exceed two pages. The
following information should be included:
a) a record of the applicant's education, including titles
of any theses or dissertations, and dates when degrees were awarded
b) a record of
employment, current position, whether it is part-time or full-time, and
whether and when the current contract will end
c) a list of
publications --for journal articles and book chapters, include page
numbers
d) a list of
awards and grants received since January 1, 1995, including source,
dates of tenure, dollar amount, and terms of leave provided by such
awards and grants. In the case of grants for purposes other than
individual study and research, applicants should explain their
involvement and activities. Applicants who have already received an NEH
Fellowship or Summer Stipend in support of their proposed project should
indicate dates of tenure, amount of the award, and results.
7. Reference
Letters
Request two
letters of reference, using the reference letter form. Referees may use
a copy of this form. Ideally, no more than one referee should be from
the applicant's own institution. The authors of the letters should send
them directly to the Endowment.
Reference
letters should provide important information about the applicant and the
proposal. Letters should discuss the project's significance to the
field, its intended audience, the likely outcome, the general quality of
the applicant's work, and the applicant's ability to carry out the
project successfully.
It is the
applicant's responsibility to check the appropriate program at the top
of the reference-letter form, to fill in the upper left section of that
form, and to send the form, together with a copy of the full proposal,
to each referee. It is also the applicant's responsibility to request
that referees send letters of reference directly to the Endowment.
Applicants should ask referees to send reference letters as close to the
application deadline as possible.
Application
Checklist
Include 8 copies
and 1 original of:
• signed application cover sheet
• narrative
• for editions or translations only, a two-page sample
• for database projects only, a one-page sample entry
• one-page bibliography for the project
• two-page résumé
plus,
• 1 extra copy of the signed cover sheet
Additional
materials, such as books, articles, copies of course outlines,
appendices, attachments, tapes, slides, etc., should not be submitted in
support of applications. Transcripts and placement files should not be
sent.
Send
applications as appropriate to either:
Fellowships
or Summer Stipends
Division of Research Programs, Room 318
National Endowment for the Humanities
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20506
202/606-8200
You
can read this call online at
<http://www.neh.fed.us/grants/onebook/fellowships.html>