Application Deadline: March 1, 2016 (notification date: March 31, 2016)
This four-week seminar has space for 16 scholars (two of whom may be graduate students). All applicants must meet NEH guidelines for participation. For information about eligibility criteria, see:
http://www.neh.gov/files/divisions/education/eligibility/college_university_eligibility_criteria.pdf
Summer Seminars and Institutes are offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities to provide college and university faculty members and independent scholars with an opportunity to enrich and revitalize their understanding of significant humanities ideas, texts and topics. These study opportunities are especially designed for this programme and are not intended to duplicate courses normally offered by graduate programs. On completion of the seminar, NEH Summer Scholars will receive a certificate indicating their participation. (Please note: an individual may apply to up to two projects but may participate in only one.)
STIPEND, TENURE AND CONDITIONS OF AWARD
Individuals selected to participate in this four-week project will receive $3,300. Stipends are intended to help cover travel expenses to and from the project location, books and other research expenses, and ordinary living expenses (including food and accommodation). Stipends are taxable. (Applicants should note that supplements will not be given in cases where the stipend is insufficient to cover all expenses.)
Seminar 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, NEH Summer Scholars 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.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
All applications must be sent to postsecular-novel@uiowa.edu. (If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within three business days, please follow up with emails to the Project Directors.) Application materials sent directly to the NEH will not be reviewed.
A complete application consists of an email to postsecular-novel@uiowa.edu, with the following three items attached as PDF files: (a) a completed NEH application cover sheet, (b) a detailed CV (not to exceed five pages), which includes contact information for two professional references, and (c) the application essay. Further information about these three items is as follows:
(a) The NEH Application Cover Sheet
The NEH application cover sheet must be filled out online at this address:
https://securegrants.neh.gov/education/participants/
Please follow the prompts. Before you click the “submit” button, print out the cover sheet to a PDF so that you can add this to your application package as described above. Then click “submit.” 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 to select the other project and repeat the process. (You must submit a separate cover sheet online for each project to which you are applying in order to generate a unique tracking number for each application. Do not copy and paste a new cover sheet.)
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 for the Postsecular Studies and the Rise of the English Novel seminar consists of an email to postsecular-novel@uiowa.edu, with the three attachments described above.
(b) CV and References
Please include a detailed CV (not to exceed five pages). Your CV should give the name, title, phone number and email address of two professional references. Your referees should not submit references in advance. They only need to provide them when (or if) they asked to do so by the Project Directors.
(c) Application Essay
The application essay is the most important part of your application and should consist of 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 seminar and contribute to the learning of other participants; a statement of what the applicant wants to accomplish by participating; and the relation of the project to the applicant’s professional responsibilities. In addition, the essay should discuss the independent study project that the applicant proposes to undertake alongside the common work of the seminar.
DEADLINE AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE
Completed applications should be submitted to postsecular-novel@uiowa.edu by email no later than March 1, 2016. Successful applicants will be notified of their selection on Thursday March 31, 2016, and they will have until Thursday April 7, 2016 to accept or decline the offer. (Unsuccessful applicants will be notified of the decision on or soon after March 31.)
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.
SELECTION CRITERIA
A selection committee (comprising the two project directors and one other faculty member) will read and evaluate all properly completed applications in order to select the most promising applicants and to identify a number of alternates.
The most important consideration in the selection of participants is the likelihood that an applicant will benefit professionally. This is determined by members of the selection committee, with reference to factors such as:
- quality and commitment as a teacher, scholar, and interpreter of the humanities;
- your intellectual interests as they relate to the work of the seminar;
- special perspectives, skills, or experiences that would contribute to the seminar;
- commitment to participating fully in the formal and informal collegial life of the seminar;
- the likelihood that the experience will enhance the applicant’s teaching and scholarship;
- the conception and organization of the applicant’s independent project and its potential contribution to the seminar.
Recent participants in other NEH summer projects are eligible to apply but selection committees are charged to give first consideration to applicants who have not previously participated in a NEH-supported Seminar, Institute or Landmarks Workshop in the last three years (2013, 2014, 2015). Preference is given to applicants who have not previously participated in any NEH Summer Seminar, Institute or Landmarks Workshop, or who significantly contribute to the diversity of the seminar.
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, 400 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20506. TDD: 1-866/372/2930 / 202-606-8282 (this is a special telephone service for the Deaf).
For any questions about the application process, please contact us at postsecular-novel@uiowa.edu.