NEH Summer Philosophy Programs for Educators
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), as usual, is funding a number of seminars and institutes for school teachers and college professors next summer, and several of them are being run by philosophers. They are:
Existentialism
Deadline:March 1, 2017
Dates: July 16-August 4 (3 weeks)
Project Director(s): Thomas Wartenberg (Mount Holyoke)
Location: South Hadley, MA
For more information: [email protected] / http://existentialismseminar.com.
Philosophers of Education: Major Thinkers from the Enlightenment to the Present
Deadline: March 1, 2017
Dates: July 9-28 (3 weeks)
Project Director(s): Peter Gibbon (Boston University)
Visiting Faculty: Leo Damrosch, Charles Glenn, Tim Seldin
Location: Boston, MA
For more information: [email protected] / http://nehphilosophersofeducationseminar.org.
Re-enchanting Nature: Humanities Perspectives
Deadline:March 1, 2017
Dates: July 10-28 (3 weeks)
Project Director(s): Chris Fuller and Edward Glowienka (Carroll College)
Visiting Faculty: Grant Hokit, Melissa Kwasny, and Mike Jetty
Location: Helena, MT
For more information:[email protected] / http://www.carroll.edu/neh4nature
Emmanuel Levinas on Morality, Justice, and the Political
Deadline: March 1, 2017
Dates: July 17-21, 2017 (1 week)
Project Director(s): Richard Cohen (University at Buffalo)
Visiting Faculty: James McLachlan
Location: Buffalo, NY
For more information: [email protected] / http://jewishthought.buffalo.edu/news/
Will, Commandment, and Human Perfection in Medieval Jewish Philosophy
Deadline:March 1, 2017
Dates: July 9 – August 4 (4 weeks)
Project Director(s): Jonathan Jacobs (CUNY)
Visiting Faculty: Tamar Rudavsky, Eileen Sweeney
Location: New York, NY
For more information:[email protected] / http://www.colgate.edu/medphilnehseminar.
Diverse Philosophical Approaches to Sexual Violence
Deadline:March 1, 2017
Dates: June 19-30, 2017 (2 weeks)
Project Director(s): Ann J. Cahill (Elon University)
Visiting Faculty: Debra Bergoffen, Susan Brison, Louise du Toit, Nicola Gavey, Renee Heberle, Sarah Clark Miller
Location: Elon, NC
For more information:[email protected] / http://www.elon.edu/neh
There are some great opportunities here. Unfortunately for those of us living and working outside the US, we’re not eligible for these events (even if we’re US citizens).
“These projects are designed primarily for teachers of American undergraduate students.
Qualified independent scholars and those employed by museums, libraries, historical societies, and other organizations may be eligible to compete provided they can effectively advance the teaching and research goals of the seminar or institute. Applicants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline. Foreign nationals teaching abroad at non-U.S. chartered institutions are not eligible to apply.”
Doesn’t it say only that people who are neither US citizens nor US residents are ineligible? I read the eligibility clause as
Applicants must be
United States citizens, (or)
residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or
foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline.
That is, the restriction to residents only applies to non-citizens.
The last sentence is I think misleading, because by “foreign nationals” they mean “non-citizens of the US”, while the phrase really means “citizens of the non-US”. (I’m both a foreign national, and a US citizen, given the standard meaning of the terms.) But I think it’s reasonably clear that any US citizens are eligible.
Thanks Brian, I’ll look into this further. A number of years ago someone told me I had to be teaching at a US institution to be eligible, but I’ll investigate.
If anyone else knows these requirements more thoroughly, I’d be interested to hear about it.
I have checked into this, and have confirmed that US citizens who are teaching outside of the US are eligible for these programs. So those of you who fit that description, please do consider applying!
When last I tried from abroad, in 2012, the NEH website distinctly said on its now-defunct “Projects” page that only instructors at institutions benefiting (primarily) American undergraduates were eligible. I see that on the newly announced Summer Institutes, the language says instead, as Jonathan reported, the projects are “designed primarily” rather than “intended only” for teachers of American undergraduate students. Perhaps this means that he and I are no longer ineligible, and instead our applications are simply lower-priority if more American-benefiting applicants are our competitors. To find out, I have emailed the appropriate NEH office and will report back with any reply I receive.
I remain pretty pessimistic. I just filled out the NEH cover form and kept choosing “other” for the “state” in which I teach. I don’t think this is going to work. But I’ll let y’all know if I learn otherwise!
I have found out that the language does in fact indicate a change, and that US citizens who are teaching abroad are eligible for these programs. Yay!