NEH Summer Institutes and Seminars Now Open for Applications

Immerse yourself in engaged, sustained, and deep study and discussion at an NEH Seminar or Institute next summer. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) offers tuition-free opportunities for higher education faculty and graduate students and K-12 educators to study a wide variety of humanities topics. A range of summer seminars and institutes all across the U.S. are now open to applications. The application deadline is March 1, 2019.

Participation is tuition-free and stipends of $1,200-$3,300 help cover travel expenses for these one- to four-week programs. Click here to learn more about NEH Summer Programs.

Among the many opportunities for learning are two UCSC affiliated projects:

Literature Professor Karen Bassi will co-lead a summer institute with Gretchen Henderson of Georgetown University in Washington, DC titled, “Museums: Humanities in the Public Sphere.” The four-week institute for college and university teachers will investigate how museums promote humanistic teaching and research. “The Institute will focus on museums as sites for interdisciplinary inquiry into advances in humanistic and scientific research, the effects of ongoing international conflicts, the speed of evolving technologies, and ethical debates over privacy, sustainability, and cultural heritage,” explain Bassi and Henderson. UCSC faculty are not eligible to enroll in the Museums Institute (see eligibility criteria), but are encouraged to promote the opportunity within their professional networks. Learn more about the Museums Institute by exploring the project website.

In July, Marty Gould, Associate Professor of English at the University of South Florida, will lead a three-week seminar for 16 school teachers on adaptations of literary works at UCSC, in collaboration with UCSC’s The Dickens Project. The seminar, titled, “Reimagining the Literary Classic: Teaching Literature through Adaptations,” invites middle and high school teachers to use literary adaptations as a way of connecting the study of literature with the development of their students’ core skills–including critical reading, analytical reasoning, argumentative writing, and creative production. Jane Eyre and Great Expectations will serve as case studies as the teachers learn how to bring this approach back to their classrooms. The seminar will coincide with the Dickens Universe so that participants can take advantage of additional programming. All university and high school teachers are welcome to apply, including UCSC faculty.

These two projects reflect a deep commitment among our faculty to share their research beyond the university. The Dickens Project has long served as a model for inviting broad audiences into the world of scholarly work and this summer’s seminar continues that tradition as K-12 educators will come to campus and engage thoughtfully with literary adaptations. Conversely, Bassi and Henderson will lead university professors and scholars into the public sphere, by inviting institute participants to Washington, DC museums. These case studies will spark conversation about how museums curate educational, ethical, and cultural debates that define the Humanities today.