ORSP welcomes internal applications from eligible tenured or tenure-track faculty interested in being nominated for NEH Summer Stipends Competitions (for summer 2024). UM is allowed only two nominees, and so ORSP conducts a competition to choose each year’s nominees.

The Summer Stipends program aims to stimulate new research in the humanities and its publication by supporting the work of individual scholars doing research or scholarly writing. 

Summer Stipends support continuous full-time work of individuals for two-months on humanities projects. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly resources.

Award Information

Summer Stipends provide $6,000 to individuals (not their institutions) for two consecutive months of full-time research and writing, starting as early as May 1 of the fellowship year, and may be used to support recipients’ compensation, travel, and other costs related to the proposed scholarly research.  Recipients must work full-time on their projects for these two months and may hold other non-NEH sources of support (for example, sabbaticals and supplementary funding) or grants for the same project during the Summer Stipend period of performance. Summer Stipends normally support work carried out during the summer months, but arrangements can be made for other times of the year.  

UM Supplementary Funding

UM institutional nominees selected by NEH for Stipends for the summer of 2024 are eligible for an additional $6,000 in supplemental funding ($3,000 from the College of Liberal Arts, and $3,000 from ORSP). Typically, these would be used towards additional summer salary and fringe benefits, but could alternatively be used for travel or other expenses related to the project. Individual applicants—those not nominated by UM—are not eligible for this supplement.

UM Humanities Summer Stipend

If neither of UM’s nominees is selected by NEH to receive an award, then the UM nominee receiving the highest ratings will be eligible to receive up to $6,000 from UM ($3K from Liberal Arts, $3K from ORSP) as summer pay to work in the proposed project during summer of 2024.

Determining Who (if Anyone) Will receive a UM Humanities Summer Stipend

At a minimum, the nominee must have: no ratings of Some Merit (SM) or Non Competitive (NC), and no more than one rating of Good (G); the remaining ratings must be Very Good (VG) or Excellent (E). For tie-breaking purposes, each Good will be worth 1 point, each Very Good worth 2 points, and each Excellent worth 3 points. The points will be totaled and divided by the number of ratings to get the final score. If these final scores are tied, the stipend will go to the nominee with the most junior rank. Of both nominees are the same rank, the award will go to the nominee with the most years in current rank. If there is still a tie, each nominee will receive ½ of the UM stipend (or, $3,000).

Individual applicants—those not nominated by UM—are not eligible for this UM stipend.

Institutional Nominations

Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty must be nominated by their institutions, which are limited to two nominations per year. Jason Hale, Director of Research Development (jghale@olemiss.edu), coordinates UM’s internal selection process for limited submission opportunities. However, UM’s Nominating Official is Josh Gladden, Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs (jgladden@olemiss.edu).

 

Eligible UM tenured or tenure-track faculty who would like to be considered for these nominations should first submit an internal notice of intent (NOI), then prepare an internal application and submit it to ORSP via the InfoReady Review Portal by the date indicated below for that competition year. Pre-proposals will be evaluated in keeping with the ORSP Standard Procedure on Limited Submissions, and in consideration of NEH’s posted review criteria for this program; UM’s two nominees will be chosen from among the internal applications received.

Individuals who are not full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty members may also apply, and are exempt from the institutional nomination requirement. Nevertheless, ORSP encourages any such individuals who apply to notify their UM supervisors as a courtesy—especially if they expect to be UM employees during the period of performance of the fellowship, if awarded.

Eligibility for Institutional Nominations

UM full-time faculty holding tenured or tenure-track positions who:

·       have completed their formal education, and
·       are U.S. citizens or foreign nationals who have been living in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years immediately preceding the application.

Key Dates

2023

February 20                            This UM ORSP announcement issued
April 24                                   Internal Notice of Intent due at https://olemiss.infoready4.com.
June 28               Internal Applications due at  https://olemiss.infoready4.com.
July                     Internal review process conducted
First Week August                     UM selections completed; Nominees announced
Mid August  – Sep 19                     Selected nominees improve and finalize full proposals
                                                            (including registering at Grants.gov)

Sep 1                                       Suggested last date for applicant Grants.gov registration.
Sep 20, 10:59 p.m. CDT          Proposals due to NEH;

·      Nominees submit their own application via grants.gov.
·      The institution will NOT submit the applications.
·      No transmittal is required.

Oct 1 (approximately)             NEH will request reference letters and nomination confirmation
Oct 11                                     Date by which you should have confirmed that NEH received your
                                                references letters and nomination confirmations. If NEH has not
                                                received them by this date, we suggest you send reminders.

Oct 13                                     Letters of rec. & confirmation of nomination due to NEH

 

2024 Dates

April                                        NEH 2024 Selections announced
May 1, 2024                            Earliest fellowship/project start date
Sept 1, 2025                           Latest fellowship/project start date

 

Instructions for UM Internal Notice of Intent (NOIs)

To be invite to submit a UM pre-proposal, faculty members should first submit an internal NOI. This will help us plan the review process for the internal competition.

The NOI will consist of:

-       Faculty member’s name and email address

-       Faculty member’s primary faculty appointment (title, date and dept)

-       Faculty member’s proposed project title

-       The disciplinary field of the proposed project

-       Brief abstract of proposed project (100 words or less)

-       Key words (for finding suitable reviewers)

Instructions for UM Pre-Proposals

To be considered as one of UM’s two institutional applicants, prospective nominees should upload an internal application to the ORSP InfoReady Review Portal. 

 

The internal pre-application will consist of one PDF containing the following items, in order, exactly following the format described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity: See pages 10-14 of the NOFO for detailed instructions of what is expected in these items and sections.

1.     A 3-page project narrative, including:

a.     Significance and Contribution: Why is the project important?

b.     Methodology and Work Plan: How will you do the project? What will you do during the grant period? How does it fit into the larger arc of the overall project?

c.     Competencies, Skills, and Access: Why are you the right one to do the project?

d.     Final Product and Dissemination: How will your work reach its audience?

2.     A 1-page  work-plan

3.     A 1-page Bibliography

4.     A 2-page Resume
5.     Appendices (only for editions, translations, database projects and visual materials)

In addition, for the UM pre-application only, individuals previously nominated by UM for these fellowships but not selected by NEH, and who are proposing the same or a very similar project as before, should also include:

6.     The NEH Reviewers Comments on that previous application, and
7.     The applicant’s Revision Plan for adapting this app based on those Reviewer Comments

If (and only if) you are selected for UM nomination, there will be additional forms for you to fill out in grant.gov  including but not limited to (see the NOFO pp. 6 - 8 for detailed instructions):

·       Title (understandable to a lay audience)

·       Your name, contact info, congressional district, and mailing address

·       1,000-character project description (or abstract)

·       SF 424: Application for Federal Assistance

·       NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals

o   The Field of your project

o   YOUR disciplinary field

o   Your status as a jr. (< 7 years since terminal degree) or senior (> 7 years) scholar

o   Name, email address, and affiliation of each of your references

o   Name and e-mail address of your institutional nominating official

·       Project/Performance Site Location Form

Review Criteria (from page 15 of NOFO)

1.Why?
The intellectual significance of the proposed project, including its value to humanities scholars, general audiences, or both.

a.     What is the project about?

b.     What is the projects value to humanities scholars and/or general audiences?

c.     How will it change scholarship?

d.     Who needs to read your book (or other work) and why?

e.     How will your book (or other work) change the way the understand the topic?

f.      Does your work tell us anything larger?

2.What? (Work Plan)
The quality of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the project and the applicant’s clarity of expression.

a.     Is it clear to general readers what you will do during the grant period?

b.     Is it clear to general readers that the work will answer your research questions?

c.     What is the quality of the conception, definition, organization, of the project?

d.     How is the narrative clear?

3.How?
The feasibility and appropriateness of the proposed plan of work.

a.     Is it clear how the project will work?

b.     Is there a detailed work plan to describe what the applicant will do each month?

c.     Does the proposed work appear feasible to accomplish during the grant period?

d.     Is the plan very specific?

4.Who?
The quality or promise of quality of the applicant as an interpreter of the humanities.

a.     Is it made clear why the applicant is the right person to do the project?

b.     Are the applicant’s unique strengths for performing the project communicated?

c.     Does the applicant demonstrate promise as an interpreter of the humanities?

5.Likelihood of Success?
The likelihood that the applicant will complete the project (not necessarily during the period of performance), including, when relevant, the soundness of the dissemination and access plans.

a.     Does the applicant appear likely to complete the project (not necessarily during the period of performance)?

b.     Does the project/work appear likely to reach the intended audience(s)?

c.     Where relevant, how sounds are the dissemination and/or access plans?

d.     Does the applicant’s publication record instill confidence in their ability to produce?

The Humanities

According to the 1965 National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act, “The term ‘humanities’ includes, but is not limited to, the study of the following: language, both modern and classical; linguistics; literature; history; jurisprudence; philosophy; archaeology; comparative religion; ethics; the history, criticism and theory of the arts; those aspects of the social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods; and the study and application of the humanities to the human environment with particular attention to reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and history and to the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.”

NIndividual Applications (not managed by UM or ORSP)

The following types of individuals may apply without an institutional nomination.

·      independent scholars not affiliated with an institution of higher education

·      non-tenure-track faculty at institutions of higher education

·      staff (non-faculty) not teaching during the academic year preceding the award

·      emeritus faculty

Program Statistics

Over a recent five-year period, the Summer Stipends program received an average of 827 applications, and made an average of 81 awards, per year, for an average funding rate of around 10 percent.

Links and Other Information

 

UM DUNS number:                             067713560

UM Congressional District:                 1^st Congressional District of Mississippi

 

NEH Summer Stipends Program:        https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/summer-stipends

Webinar Slides and Recording:          https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/summer-stipends

Samples of Prior Successful Apps:      https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/summer-stipends

 

Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO):

https://www.neh.gov/sites/default/files/inline-files/Summer%20Stipends%202022%20and%202023_1.pdf

 

UM InfoReady Review Portal: http://research.olemiss.edu/InfoReady 

            

UM Nominating Official:
Greg Easson, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs, geasson@olemiss.edu

To ask questions about, or suggest corrections to, this announcement, or the UM application, nomination, or selection process, or to offer your services as a UM reviewer, please e-mail orspresdev@olemiss.edu, or contact Jason Hale at jghale@olemiss.edu, or 662-915-3922. Corrections and updates will be made to the online version.