ORSP welcomes internal applications from eligible tenured or tenure-track (T/TT) faculty who have never won an NEH individual award before, who are interested in being nominated for NEH Summer Stipends. In a change from last year’s competition, each institution is allowed only one T/TT nominee; ORSP will once again conduct a competition to choose this year’s UM nominee. This announcement concerns that UM nomination process for T/TT faculty; it does not concern UM individuals who are eligible to apply directly without institutional nomination—those individuals are directed instead to the NEH Summer Stipends webpage for instructions.

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 projects at any stage of development, but especially early-stage research and late-stage writing in which small awards are most effective.

 

Summer Stipends support continuous full-time work of individuals on humanities projects for two consecutive months of research and writing. Summer Stipends normally support work carried out during the summer months, but you may arrange for a period of performance at other times of the year with the advanced approval of your department chair. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, or other scholarly resources.

Eligibility Information

A new development in this year’s NOFO is that the Summer Stipends program limits eligibility to individuals who have not previously held an NEH award in any of its programs for individuals (including but not limited to fellowships). Additionally (and consistent with previous competitions) individuals must be one of the following to be eligible:

·      A U.S. citizen residing domestically or abroad

·      A foreign national who has lived in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years prior to the application deadline

 

If selected for an award, you may receive the stipend directly from NEH, or through UM.

 

Award Information

Summer Stipends provide $8,000 to individuals (up from $6,000 in pervious competitions) for two consecutive months of full-time research and writing, starting as early as May 1 of the fellowship year, or as late as October 1 of the following 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. As mentioned, while Summer Stipends normally support work carried out during the summer months, arrangements can be made for other times of the year.  

 

 

 

UM Humanities Summer Stipend

UM institutional nominees selected by NEH for Summer Stipends will be eligible to receive an additional $8,000 in supplemental funding in the form of a UM Humanities Summer Stipend.  This could be applied towards additional summer salary, but could alternatively be used for travel or other expenses related to the project.
 

A UM nominee not selected by NEH to receive a Summer Stipend award may still qualify for the UM Humanities Summer Stipend if their NEH reviewer ratings meet a threshold as follows: 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).

 

A nominee who qualifies for a UM Humanities Summer Stipend in either of the scenarios above may, with advanced approval of their chair and dean, elect to forego the $8,000 UM supplemental in favor a reduced teaching load for the fall or spring to concentrate more time on the project. The financial and logistical arrangements would need to be negotiated with the department, school/college, and ORSP at the time of internal selection for nomination.[1]

 

Individual applicants—those not nominated—are not eligible for a UM Humanities Stipend.

 

Institutional Nominations

Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty must be nominated by their institutions, which are limited to one nomination 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 currently Greg Easson, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs (geasson@olemiss.edu). If a permanent Vice Chancellor for Research and Economic Development has been hired by the application due date, the new vice chancellor will be the nominating official.

 

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 one nominee will be chosen from among the internal applications received.

 

UM nominees from the most recent competition who were not selected to receive an NEH Summer Stipend should sit this competition out, but are welcome to compete for nomination again next year. On the other hand, who competed internally but were not selected to be a UM nominee last year may compete again this year to be nominated.

 

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.

2024 Key Dates
 

June 18                        New NEH Notice of Funding Opportunity issued

June 27                        This UM ORSP announcement issued

July 10, 1 p.m. CDT     NEH Webinar[2] for Nominators and Prospective Applicants

July 18                         Internal Notice of Intent due at https://olemiss.infoready4.com

July 31                         Internal Applications due at  https://olemiss.infoready4.com
Aug 1 – Aug 15            Internal review process conducted
Aug 16                         UM selection completed; Nominee announced
Aug 16 – Sep 17          Selected nominee improve and finalize full proposal

Aug 21, noon CDT       NEH Application Writing Tips Webinar for applicants[3]
Sep 1                           Suggested last date for applicant Grants.gov registration
Sep 18, 10:59 p.m.      Proposals due to NEH

·       Nominee submits their own application via grants.gov.

·       The institution will NOT submit the applications.

·       No transmittal is required.

·       ORSP Research Development can assist as requested.

Oct 1 (approx.)            NEH will request reference letters and nomination confirmation

Oct 08                         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 11                         Letters of rec. & confirmation of nomination due to NEH;
                                    last day for nominating official to confirm your nomination.

 

2025 Dates

 

April                            NEH 2025 Selections announced

May 1, 2025                Earliest fellowship/project start date

Sept 1, 2026                Latest fellowship/project start date

Instructions for UM Internal Notice of Intent (NOIs)

To be invited 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 status as a junior (< 7 years since terminal degree) or
senior (> 7 years) scholar as of the due date in September 2024

-       Faculty member’s proposed project title (may change later)

-       The disciplinary field of the proposed project

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

-       Confirmation that faculty member has never received an NEH individual award before

 

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 the following items, exactly following the format described in the Notice of Funding Opportunity: See pages 8-12 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.     Organization and Methods: 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? Describe your method(s) and clarify the part or stage of the project that will be supported by the Summer Stipend.

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 (including any of attachments 5-7 if applicable)

 

If (and only if) you are selected for UM nomination, there will be additional forms and application components for you to complete in grants.gov as explained on pages 13-15, including but not limited to:

·       Title (understandable to a lay audience)

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

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

·       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 19 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?

 

Additional Resources

·      NEH Summer Stipends Web Page: https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/summer-stipends

·      Summer Stipends grants.gov Application Package: https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=339278

·      NEH webinar recording (8/17/2022): Application Writing Strategies, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnQOE5yV-g8

·      Sample application narratives: https://www.neh.gov/grants/research/summer-stipends

·      Examples of previously funded Summer Stipends: https://securegrants.neh.gov/publicquery/main.aspx?q=1&a=0&n=0&o=0&k=0&f=0&s=0&p=1&pv=3&d=0&y=1&yf=2018&yt=2020&prd=0&cov=0&prz=0&wp=0&pg=0&ob=year&or=DESC

 

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.”

 

NEH Areas of Interest

NEH will give all applications (regardless of humanities interest area) equal consideration in accordance with the program’s review criteria, but has called out three areas of special interest in this year’s NOFO, which provides details for each:

·      American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future

·      United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture

·      The Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative

 

 Individual 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 792 applications per year, and made an average of 99 awards, per year, for an average funding rate of around 13 percent.  Note: 4 of UM’s last 8 nominees were selected for NEH Summer Stipends.

 

 

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%202024.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

 

This Announcement Online: http://research.olemiss.edu/NEHSummerStipends

 

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.