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The Center for the Humanities is proud to support our living, learning community in a variety of ways. We sponsor and co-sponsor campus programming; we offer a variety of grants to support student, staff, and faculty research; and we partner with community organizations in support of literacy and diversity education. This year funding will be limited to a first-come basis to allow us to dedicate funds for center-initiated programming. We will try to accommodate as many requests as we can. Please see the descriptions and application links below.

Conversations in the Humanities

Guidelines for Proposals for Conversations in the Humanities

We will give preference to events that bring an interdisciplinary focus on issues pertaining to the humanities or humanistic inquiry broadly conceived. We strongly encourage proposals with an orientation in social studies or sciences. Successful proposals will briefly and clearly delineate the rationale for your proposed event.

• Why is this conversation relevant right now?
• Are there pedagogical, curricular, or current event-related concerns that make discussion of this topic timely?
• Which campus groups — departments, divisions, extracurricular organizations — will you hope to attract?
• Will you invite students or members of the greater ������Ƶ community?
• How will the ������Ƶ community benefit from this conversation? 

Describe, in detail, your budgetary needs. Please include rationale for honoraria and travel and lodging expenses (if applicable), cost for food or refreshments, and any costs that will be offset by funding from other sources. All expenses must be itemized in the proposal and all receipts must reflect the budgeted items.

For purposes of publicity (including calendar notification, website display, or other venues) we ask that the event be labeled “Conversations in the Humanities,” followed by a subtitle. The subtitle can be whatever your group deems appropriate. For example, last spring we offered an event titled “Conversations in the Humanities: Climate Change. Indigenous Knowledge. The Liberal Arts.”  We request this in the hope that the greater College community will come to understand these Conversations as a regular and continuing series for which interested groups can access funding from the Center.

If you have any questions about how to outline your proposal relative to these guidelines, please contact Steve Andrews or Jan Graham. We are happy to help. Please consider today.

Co-Sponsorship Opportunities

The Center is dedicated to ensuring that educators across campus continue to connect our community with partners from outside our immediate intellectual community. In light of our general ongoing commitment to minimizing the center’s footprint, we are allocating a significant portion of our annual co-sponsorship budget to supporting virtual visits.

The Center’s advisory board has devised a schedule of honoraria for sponsoring and co-sponsoring virtual visitors to ������Ƶ in 2025–26. Given the importance of helping faculty, staff, and students maintain and build networks of support, intellectual engagement, and enrichment, we believe strongly that the use of funds in support of virtual visits is consistent with our collective responsibility to be stewards of our institutional resources.

We understand that particular circumstances and visits will require slightly different levels of support. The schedule of honoraria is meant to guide and aid in your planning efforts.

We will also continue to support a limited number of in-person visits.

• Virtual Class and Workshop Visits

For a single visitor making an hour-long virtual class visit, with minimal planning via email or telephone, we will provide up to $250.

• In-Person Visits and Events

The Center recognizes the importance of the opportunities that in-person visits make possible. We will offer up to $500 toward the expenses connected to in-person class visits, workshops, and public talks or demonstrations.

Please consider today.

Humanities Exploration Funds

We learn a lot at ������Ƶ. It’s what we do. Often, we learn in and through our classes. We read together. We talk together. We listen together. Some of our most important discoveries, however, happen outside of our courses. That’s what living in the intellectual community is all about. This grant is open to students, staff, and faculty. 

The Humanities Exploration Fund provides small grants of up to $300 to groups of people who want to explore together, talk together, and listen together. You may use the funds to purchase books, tickets, or any other materials that can help you draw on the arts and humanities to explore some part of the world around you. With the Humanities Exploration Fund, the important thing is that you get to decide when and how that happens. 

We encourage you to also include meals or refreshments from local providers as part of your activities. We believe strongly that good food and drink leads to great exploration!

We hope you will consider submitting a proposal with friends this year. Please consider today.

“Just Talk” Funding

We will give preference to events that center on issues pertaining to LGBTQIA-related issues, but we will consider proposals that focus on other issues.

• Briefly and clearly delineate the social justice rationale for your proposed event.
• Which campus groups might be interested?
• Will you invite members of the greater ������Ƶ community?
• What do you hope to gain by organizing this event at this moment?

List your itemized budgetary needs. Please include rationales for honoraria and travel and lodging expenses (if applicable), cost for food or refreshments, and any costs that will be offset by funding from other sources.

For purposes of publicity (including calendar notification, website display, or other venues) we ask that the event be labeled “Just Talk.” The subtitle can be whatever your group deems appropriate. For example, last spring we offered an event titled “Just Talk: A Trans-Related Conversation on Legislation and the Law.”  We request this in the hope that the greater college community will come to understand Just Talk as a regular and continuing series for which interested groups can access funding from the Center.

Please consider today.

Small Grants for Project Completion

Sometimes we all just need a small push to help us complete a project. Our Small Grants for Project Completion program can help staff and faculty make that final push. Whether providing funding for a few extra research assistant hours or to help pay for a service you require to complete your project, the Center for the Humanities is committed to supporting your humanistic research. 

Please consider today. The Center director will entertain proposals for funding up to $250.

The only “outcome” we expect is for you to share with us whatever comes of the work.

Student Arts and Humanities

Students! Have a specific project you’re working on that needs a little influx of cash to make it happen? The Student Arts and Humanities Fund might be for you. The project can be connected to a course or academic research, or it can be something you’ve been working on in your own time. You can use the money for virtually anything related to the project as long as you can demonstrate why and how the expenditure is essential to the work.

Our definition of the humanities is broad and inclusive. We believe that the humanities include any approach to understanding human ideas, practices, and experiences that focus on how they shape and are shaped by culture, social structures, and our environment. 

Please consider today. The Center director will entertain proposals for funding up to $250. Anything beyond that amount will be subject to review by the Center’s advisory board. 

The only “outcome” we expect is for you to share with us whatever comes of the work.