Humanities Connections

Overview

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Division of Education Programs is accepting applications for the Humanities Connections program. This program seeks to expand the role of the humanities in undergraduate education at two- and four-year institutions by encouraging partnerships between humanities faculty and their counterparts in other areas of study.

Purpose of Program:
This program seeks to expand the role of the humanities in undergraduate education at two- and four-year institutions by encouraging partnerships between humanities faculty and their counterparts in other areas of study. Humanities Connections projects should plan or implement a curriculum connecting the humanities to one or more non-humanities fields, including but not limited to the physical and natural sciences; pre-service or professional programs, including law and business; or computer science, data science, and other technology-driven fields. Projects must incorporate the approaches and learning activities of both the humanities and the non-humanities disciplines involved.

Competitive Humanities Connections proposals will demonstrate:
• how your project expands the role of the humanities in your institution’s undergraduate curriculum;
• how your proposed curriculum would substantively and purposefully integrate the subject matter, approaches, and learning activities of two or more disciplines (with a minimum of one in and one outside of the humanities);
• how faculty from each relevant discipline would collaborate to plan, implement, and/or deliver the curriculum;
• how your institution would sustain the curriculum over the long term, whether through interdisciplinary minors or certificates; curricular pathways such as concentrations within majors or general education programs; or other models appropriate to your institution.

NEH Areas of Interest
NEH is especially interested in supporting projects that advance humanities-related work in the following areas. NEH will give all applications equal consideration in accordance with the program’s review criteria.

NEH encourages projects that include Native American organizations and communities as applicants and project partners.

• American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future is a wide-ranging special initiative at NEH that leverages the humanities to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time: strengthening our democracy, advancing equity for all, and addressing our changing climate. The initiative encourages humanities projects that elevate the role of civics in schools and public programs, advance knowledge of the country’s history and political institutions, and examine threats to its democratic principles. The initiative also encourages projects that explore the untold stories of historically underrepresented groups and build capacity at cultural and educational institutions to benefit underserved communities. Finally, the initiative welcomes projects that promote research into the historical roots and cultural effects of climate change and support the cultural and educational sectors in building climate resilience. By supporting humanities projects that align with these three themes – strengthening our democracy, advancing equity for all, and addressing our changing climate – the American Tapestry initiative seeks to tell our country’s history in all its complexity and diversity.
• United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture
  Hate must have no safe harbor in America – especially when that hate fuels the kind of violence we’ve seen from Oak Creek to Pittsburgh, from El Paso to Poway, and from Atlanta to Buffalo. When ordinary Americans cannot participate in the basic activities of everyday life – such as shopping at the grocery store or praying at their house of worship – without the fear of being targeted and killed for who they are, our security as well as democracy are at risk. In coordination with the White House “United We Stand” Summit in September 2022, NEH launched a new initiative titled United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture that uses the humanities to combat hate-motivated violence and promote civic engagement, social cohesion, and cross-cultural understanding. As a part of this initiative, NEH encourages humanities projects that further our understanding of the nation’s racial, ethnic, gender, and religious diversity; examine the sources of hate and intolerance in the United States; and explore progress towards greater inclusiveness. NEH especially welcomes projects that explore the Muslim American and/or the Jewish American experience, including the history of Islamophobia and/or antisemitism.
• NEH’s Support for the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative
  As a part of NEH’s partnership with the Department of the Interior on the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative, NEH encourages projects that further public understanding and knowledge of the Federal Indian boarding school system. From 1819 through the 1970s the government of the United States operated a system of schools for Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children premised on a policy of coerced cultural assimilation. Native children were forcibly separated from their families and sent to attend federal Indian boarding schools, where they were frequently subject to harsh treatment and abuse. A number of these students died, and others never returned to their families and communities. Many were also deprived of their cultural inheritance. NEH encourages projects that document and explore the history of the federal Indian boarding schools as well as projects that contribute to Native and Indigenous cultural and language revitalization.

Funding levels
NEH evaluates applications for each stage of a project independently. An award at the Planning level does not commit the agency to funding the project at the Implementation level. An Implementation proposal may be for a project that has not received prior NEH support, or it may continue work begun with a previous award. In either case, your Implementation proposal must show evidence of prior planning and cannot include costs for the same activities supported by another NEH proposal. You may not apply for both funding levels simultaneously.

The Humanities Connections program includes two funding levels: Planning and Implementation.

1. Planning Awards: Up to $50,000 and between six to 12 months. Provide the opportunity to create a firm foundation for an interdisciplinary undergraduate curricular program or initiative. You may develop an entirely new program or initiative, or build on an existing one, including those currently managed by a single department. You may use a Planning award to:

• establish and convene a collaborative team representing the disciplines involvedet project goals and outcomes
• consult outside experts on curriculum design or interdisciplinary collaboration
• develop interdisciplinary learning opportunities (including but not limited to undergraduate research projects, field or laboratory research, and community-based, project-based, or site-based learning)
• organize workshops or other professional development for faculty and administrators on substantive issues related to the success of the project
• coordinate focus or discussion groups, which may include students, around issues central to the project’s rationale
• design or revise courses, instructional models, and/or learning activities
• work with institutional leadership to establish long-term support
• complete other tasks that introduce your interdisciplinary initiative or curriculum to your campus

2. Implementation Awards: Up to $150,000 and from 18 to 36 months. Support the introduction or revision of sustainable and interdisciplinary undergraduate curricula or initiatives. An Implementation award provides the opportunity to build on faculty, administrative, or institutional partnerships and to develop and refine the project’s intellectual content, design, and scope. You may use an Implementation award to:

• develop, implement, assess, and refine curricula (such as pathways, majors, minors, and certificates), courses, course modules, and assignments
• convene a core faculty team and develop working groups on issues central to project rationale
• engage outside experts on issues pertinent to project content, design, and sustainability
• create and implement outreach strategies to attract students
• conduct mid- and long-range feasibility studies
• complete other tasks that prepare your interdisciplinary curriculum or initiative to enroll students

NEH will not review applications missing any required documents or relevant conditionally required documents. 

NEH will not review applications that exceed mandatory page limits or deviate from formatting instructions.

Performance Period: Planning: 6 to 12 months; Implementation: 18 to 36 months
Award Amounts: Planning: up to $50,000; Implementation: up to $150,000

All projects must start between June 1, 2025, and September 1, 2025.

You may submit multiple applications for separate and distinct projects under this notice. Recipients of open Humanities Connections awards may apply.

Collaboration with other postsecondary institutions is welcome, but the project director must be employed by or affiliated with the applicant institution. The project director may not hold a full-time NEH individual award during the period of performance.

You may revise and resubmit previously rejected applications.