When will this award be paid?
The award is intended to be used for living expenses during the duration of the project period (approximately 8-10 weeks) and will be paid in one lump sum in early June in conjunction with your academic department rules, subject to standard stipendiary withholding.
I know I have to work with an established cultural institution. Can my supervisory contact be a professor, at a university?
The purpose of the award is to provide opportunities for you to work to extend your network and skillset, as key elements of your ongoing professional development. Work within a university is eligible within this award; undertaking projects with support from university centers, initiatives, institutes, libraries, and ongoing faculty research projects is understood to offer many pathways for professional development.
The HPG Initiative strongly prefers that work undertaken through this initiative involve new professional contact in some regard. Hence if you propose to work with your own faculty mentors, or on projects with which you have a role during the regular academic year, it will be incumbent upon you to explain how the work in question will afford opportunities to extend your professional circle, and/or how it offers opportunities to work on new skills. This might provide you with an opportunity to request a role shift within an ongoing project, or an opportunity to concentrate on community outreach strategies for an ongoing project, which both serve to build ties between publics and cultural organizations, and are necessarily network-building. In short: successful applicants will show how they intend to develop new skills and meet new people through this award.
How much support do I need from my host institution, at the application stage? How clearly defined does my project need to be?
Before applying, you’ll need to have been in touch with your host institution, in order to understand potential projects you might pursue with them well enough to explain how they fit into your professional goals and qualifications, and how the project serves the public’s interest. Contacts at the host institution will not be required to participate in the application process. However, each selected awardee will be asked to submit a memorandum of understanding, signed by the awardee, a supervisory/mentor contact at the host institution, their Director of Graduate Studies, and the Humanities for the Public Good Initiative, in order for funds to be disbursed. This memorandum may differ in certain regards from the proposal, as the project’s parameters will necessarily be further elaborated upon actually receiving this award.
How detailed does my recommendation from my DGS or faculty advisor need to be?
This is an internal message of support, with narrower goals than external letters. Mainly, this needs to indicate that your program supports your proposed project as an aspect of your professional development, and note whether you are considered by your program to be in good standing. It may also indicate whether and why the program believes you to be a good candidate for the public humanities research you propose. Candidates may share these guidelines with faculty recommenders. Faculty may fill out our recommendation form or submit letters of support here.
My program is not listed among the graduate programs that are eligible, but I have a public humanities project in mind. Can I still apply?
We know that enthusiastic and wonderful humanists and humanistic social scientists work in an array of programs and capacities, around the whole university. However, the Humanities for the Public Good Initiative is attached to those programs within the College of Arts & Sciences that are listed within the call. Graduate students in programs within the College which are not listed here, may write to the initiative to petition for eligibility to apply, by writing to Ashley Melzer (amelzer@unc.edu). Graduate students within the professional schools are not eligible for this award.
