Those interested in applying should consult NEH Application Instructions, also provided below as an attachment.
Drawing NEH summer scholars from a variety of fields is integral to the Institute’s purpose and success. NEH summer institute scholars should come with training or research interests in literature, European history, politics, and philosophy, religious studies, medieval studies, art history, and general humanities. This Institute would be particularly appropriate for community college teachers in Humanities Programs who are often required to include Dante in standard western civilization courses. Applicants may apply for two summer institutes, but may only attend one. As a consequence, it is important to notify the project director immediately when you have decided which institute you plan to attend.
Three institute spaces will be reserved for current full-time graduate students in the humanities. If qualified graduate students cannot be found for the available spaces, those spaces may be filled by faculty selected from the applicant pool.
To apply for the NEH Dante Institute in Florence, send a letter of application comprising an essay of no more than four double-spaced pages that describes your interest in Dante and the relationship of Dante to your teaching and/or research interests. The letter of application should address your specific intellectual or academic interest in the Institute, your qualifications and expectations of the Institute, and what you expect to contribute to it. Specific attention to how Dante, medieval art, literature, philosophy, and theology fit with your teaching and intellectual activities would be most appropriate. An abbreviated curriculum vitae should accompany the letter of interest. You do not need to send letters of recommendation, but two names of possible referrals should be cited on the curriculum vitae.
NEH SUMMER INSTITUTES FOR COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY TEACHERS APPLICATION INFORMATION AND INSTRUCTIONS
APPLYING FOR THE SUMMER INSTITUTE: DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY
(Please note that instructions are also available below as a PDF)
Institutes for College and University Teachers 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 program and are not intended to duplicate courses normally offered by graduate programs. On completion of this institute, NEH Summer Scholars will receive a certificate indicating their participation.
Prior to completing an application to a specific institute, please review the project website and consider carefully what is expected in terms of residence and attendance, reading and writing requirements, and general participation in the work of the project.
Institutes are for 25 Summer Scholars, and provide intensive collaborative study of texts, topics, and ideas central to undergraduate teaching in the humanities under the guidance of faculties distinguished in their fields of scholarship. Institutes aim to prepare participants to return to their classrooms with a deeper knowledge of current scholarship in key fields of the humanities.
Please note: An individual may apply to up to two projects (NEH Summer Seminars, or NEH Summer Institutes), but may participate in only one.
SELECTION CRITERIA
A selection committee reads and evaluates all properly completed applications in order to select the most promising applicants and to identify a number of alternates. (Institute selection committees typically consist of three to five members, usually drawn from the institute faculty and staff members.)The most important consideration in the selection of participants is the likelihood that an applicant will benefit professionally. This is determined by committee members from the conjunction of several factors, each of which should be addressed in the application essay.
These factors include:
1. quality and commitment as a teacher, scholar, and interpreter of the humanities;
2. intellectual interests, in general and as they relate to the work of the institute;
3. special perspectives, skills, or experiences that would contribute to the institute;
4. commitment to participate fully in the formal and informal collegial life of the institute;
5. the likelihood that the experience will enhance the applicant's teaching and scholarship.
Recent participants are eligible to apply, but selection committees are charged to give first consideration to applicants who have not participated in an NEH-supported Seminar, Institute or Landmarks Workshop in the last three years (2011, 2012, 2013). When choices must be made among equally qualified candidates, several additional factors are considered. Preference is given to applicants who have not previously participated in an NEH Summer Seminar, Institute, or Landmarks Workshop, or who significantly contribute to the diversity of the seminar or institute.
STIPEND, TENURE, AND CONDITIONS OF AWARD
Participants in four-week projects 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. Stipends are taxable. Applicants to all projects, especially those held abroad, should note that supplements will not be given in cases where the stipend is insufficient to cover all expenses.
Institute 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
Before you attempt to complete an application, please study the project website, which contains detailed information about the topic under study, project requirements and expectations of the participants, the academic and institutional setting, and specific provisions for lodging and subsistence. All application materials must be sent to the project director and her assistant (bdschildgen@ucdavis.edu; mpowers@ucdavis.edu). Application materials sent to the Endowment will not be reviewed.
CHECKLIST OF APPLICATION MATERIALS
A complete application consists of the following items:
• the completed application cover sheet (see below for explanation);
• a detailed résumé, curriculum vitae, or brief biography with contact information for two professional references;
• an application essay as outlined below.
The 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 or save a copy of the cover sheet so that you can later add it to your application package, which you will send both to the project director, Prof. Brenda Schildgen (bdschildgen@ucdavis.edu) and her assistant, Monica Powers Keane (mpowers@ucdavis.edu) via e-mail attachment. 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.
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 consists of the items listed above, as sent to the project director.
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.
RÉSUMÉ and REFERENCES
Please include a detailed résumé, curriculum vitae, or brief biography (not to exceed five pages).
Be sure the résumé provides the name, title, phone number, and e-mail address of two professional references.
APPLICATION ESSAY
The application essay should be 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 or institute and to make a contribution to a learning community; a statement of what the applicant wants to accomplish by participating; and the relation of the project to the applicant's professional responsibilities. Applicants to institutes may need to elaborate on the relationship between institute activities and their responsibilities for teaching and curricular development.
SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS AND NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE
Completed applications should be submitted to the project director, not the NEH, and should be submitted via e-mail attachment no later than March 4, 2014.
Successful applicants will be notified of their selection on Monday, March 31, 2014, and they will have until Friday, April 4 to accept or decline the offer.
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.
Send letter, curriculum vitae (resumé), and copy of cover sheet simultaneously via e-mail attachment by March 4, 2014 to
Professor Brenda Deen Schildgen (bdschildgen@ucdavis.edu)
Monica Powers Keane, ABD (mpowers@ucdavis.edu)
Those who have not participated in an NEH-supported seminar or institute in the last three years will have first priority. The selection committee (composed of three faculty) will give priority to candidates representing a diversity of humanities disciplines whose scholarly and teaching interests intersect with general humanities, medieval and Renaissance studies, Dante, and related humanities disciplines. Training in Italian literature and language is not required, but if faculty are working on individual research projects based on their interests and training that are related to the subjects of the Institute, both the resident faculty and the director will be available for consultations.
Applicants will be notified of acceptance by March 31, 2014. Once selected, participants will be asked to send the director a statement of how they expect their experience in the Institute to enhance both their teaching and scholarly interests. Brief outlines of working projects may be included.
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, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20506. TDD: 202/606-8282 (this is a special telephone device for the Deaf).