[Announcement from VCPE-PUBLICENGAGE-L]
The Whiting Found is seeking proposals for their new
Public Engagement Fellowship Program which supports
Faculty in the Humanities.
The University of Illinois may nominate one candidate.
Internal nominations are due by August 7, 2015 at 5pm.
Specific details are quantified below or for more
information
Office of Public
Engagement
University of Illinois at Urbana – Champaign
Connecting our campus and
community to the world
SENT ON BEHALF OF DR NANCY ABELMANN
ASSOCIATE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH – HUMANITIES, ARTS & RELATED FIELDS
OFFICE OF THE VICE CHANCELLOR FOR RESEARCH
You are receiving this email because you
attended our programs and/or indicated an interest in our services.
Dear Colleagues,
In partnership with the Office of the Vice Chancellor for
Research, the Office of Foundation Relations is pleased to issue this internal
Call for Proposals for the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship program.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has received an
invitation to submit one nominee for the Whiting Foundation’s
new Public Engagement Fellowship program. This program
supports faculty in the humanities who show commitment to sharing
their research with the public.
Limited
Submission
Whiting Foundation
Fall 2015 Public Engagement Fellowship
Internal Deadline: Friday, August 7 @ 5 p.m.
Purpose: Whiting Public Engagement Fellowships support
faculty with a demonstrated commitment to using their scholarly expertise to
reach wider audiences. The Foundation believes that those who devote their
professional lives to the study and teaching of the humanities are in a unique
position to contribute to public understanding. Fellowships are intended to
amplify the voices of scholars who take up the challenge of engaging the
public, to build a community of faculty dedicated to this form of service, and
ultimately to help restore broader faith in the value of advanced work in the
humanities.
Terms of the Awards: Illinois has been invited to
participate in this opportunity and may nominate one humanities (broadly defined) faculty member who received
tenure between fall of 2010 and fall of 2015. Individual scholars doing humanistic
work in social-science fields such as cultural anthropology are also eligible.
Candidates should have prior experience in translating their scholarly work for
the public.
Fellowship recipient’s home institution will be given a grant of
$40,000 to fund six consecutive months of leave and an additional stipend of up
to $10,000 to be made available to the fellow to cover costs such as travel,
collaboration, and training. Fellows may choose to take the
leave in the fall of 2016 or the spring of 2017. All fellows will participate
in two convenings, one in the summer of 2016 and one in the summer of 2017, and
provide a brief final report on their work at the end of the fellowship.
In cases where the $40,000 grant does not fully cover half of the
nominee’s annual salary and benefits, the Foundation expects that the home
institution will ensure the fellow continues to receive her or his full salary
and benefits without interruption or diminution.
Supported Projects: A nominee may propose to work on
any ambitious project, new or existing, that will substantively engage the
public beyond the academy. Opportunities to contribute to public life and
understanding vary considerably based on a scholar’s expertise, interests, and
talents, and they are not restricted to those who study the topics most
obviously connected to contemporary political, cultural, or social debates. The
Foundation will support Fellows whose scholarship covers a range of
disciplines, periods, and perspectives.
The Foundation will support Fellows who, taken as a group, use a
variety of methods and forms to engage the public; more important than the
medium chosen is the ability to connect with a broader audience in an
intellectually rich and compelling way. Illustrative examples include, but are
by no means limited to:
·
Writing a deeply researched book for a general audience on a topic
in contemporary philosophy
·
Writing and placing one or more articles in a mainstream online or
print magazine on the history of science
·
Contributing to the research for and creation of a documentary
film on Elizabethan theater
·
Curating an exhibit at an off-campus museum or gallery on an
aspect of race in American history
·
Collaborating with a director as a dramaturg for a theater or play
with a significant historical aspect and creating program notes incorporating
scholarly research
·
Developing curriculum modules for grades 6-12 on the history and
culture of East Asia, along with a plan to disseminate them effectively
·
Working with a local station to launch a live radio show and/or
podcast bringing the English Romantic poets or the Harlem Renaissance to a wide
listenership
·
Co-creating a smartphone app to direct users to rich historical
information about nearby sites
·
Designing and implementing a series of professional development
workshops for high school teachers of Latin to discuss recent scholarship on
the ancient world and consider how they might incorporate it in their pedagogy
For the purpose of this fellowship, interpretive humanities are
distinguished from the creative arts. For example, a professor proposing to
choreograph a new dance piece would not be eligible, though one proposing a
film on the history and meaning of the work of a choreographer would be.
The plan to complete a project should be thoroughly fleshed out,
though work need not yet be underway. Nominees may propose work that will not
be finished within the fellowship period, though they should be in a position
to make significant progress on it through six months of concentrated
attention. (If a project requires more time to complete, the application should
make clear how the fellowship term will fit into the overall timeline.) If the
project involves collaboration with individual or organizational partners,
those relationships should be in place by the time the application is submitted
to the Foundation. For example, if a nominee proposes to develop a radio show,
an agreement should be in place with the partner station.
Instructions
for the Internal Selection Process:
Deadline:
Friday, August 7, 2015 @ 5 p.m.
This is a limited submission opportunity; the university may
nominate one candidate. For the internal selection process, we
ask that interested applicants address the following in a single-spaced,
10-point Times New Roman type, PDF document with 1-inch margins, reflective of
Foundation guidelines:
1. Role of public engagement
in your career (1/2 page): Describe previous experience engaging audiences
outside the academy through your scholarly expertise.
2. Project description (up to
2 pages): Describe how you will use the fellowship leave and stipend, with
special attention to the selection criteria laid out below. Include the
following sections, as applicable:
·
Summary: Describe the work and
intended outcome. Be sure to make clear, in language compelling to a
non-specialist audience (citations are discouraged), why the project will
be engaging to the general public. In addition, indicate the project’s current
status and, if applicable, describe any work already completed; discuss how the
work will draw on your scholarly expertise; address the nature of the
contribution to public understanding; describe the plan to ensure the project
reaches the intended audience.
·
Timeline: Lay out the anticipated
timeline for completing your project, including any major intermediate steps.
If the project will not be completed within the term of the fellowship, be sure
to indicate how that term fits into the larger timeline.
·
Collaboration (if
applicable): Identify partners who will be critical to the success of the
project.
3. Updated Resume / C.V.
(indicate tenure award date)
4. Reference letter:
Please include one letter of reference from an appropriate source. It is
suggested that the letter address both the intellectual and academic merits of
your previous scholarship and your ability to communicate with an audience
outside your field.
The committee will consider each project in light of the following
three selection criteria:
• Intellectual significance: Does the project make use of
the nominee’s scholarly expertise in an intellectually rigorous way? Will the
project make a meaningful intellectual contribution for its audience, conveying
the complexity and nuance of humanistic learning? Does the nominee have an
outstanding history of research and teaching that lends itself to the proposed
project?
• Anticipated public impact: How significantly will the
project affect the public, in terms of both breadth (e.g., size of the
audience) and depth (e.g., level of engagement)? (Note that projects need not
be national in scope.) Does the nominee have a clear plan to reach the intended
audience(s)? Has the nominee demonstrated an ability to reach broader audiences
effectively?
• Feasibility: Does the nominee have the qualifications to
complete the work proposed during the fellowship (or in the longer timeline
laid out in the application)? Is the project itself manageable, taking into
account any work the nominee has already done? If success of the project
depends on collaborators or a third party (such as a magazine or book
publisher), does the proposal include persuasive evidence that the
collaboration will be effective?
Submission: Applications and all questions should be
submitted via email to Barlow LeVold (jbl@illinois.edu), in the office of Foundation
Relations. Applications will be reviewed by a faculty committee. Applicants
will be informed of committee decisions by mid-September.
If you have any additional questions, please contact Barlow LeVold
at jbl@illinois.edu or
217-244-8156.
_____________________________________________
Barlow LeVold, Ph.D.
Associate Director, Foundation Relations
Office of the Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
507 E. Green Street, Suite 426 (MC-418)
Champaign, IL 61820
Tel: 217-244-8146
Web: http://vcia.illinois.edu/FoundationRelations
