Brief Description:

Description:

The Whiting Foundation invites selected colleges and universities to nominate a recently-tenured professor in the humanities for the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship. The Fellowship is a pilot program designed to celebrate and support faculty who incorporate public engagement into their scholarly vocations. The Whiting Foundation has invited Harvard University to nominate one candidate in consideration for this opportunity.

A fellowship of $40,000 will be provided 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. Additionally, the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship can be taken consecutively with institutional or other grant supported leave, if the nominating institution approves.

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 his or her full benefits without interruption.

Eligible applicants are asked to apply to this opportunity using the Harvard University Funding Portal. To begin this process applicants should select the word "Apply" found to the right of the opportunity description. In addition to answering several questions about their proposal, applicants will be asked to upload the following:

Role of Public Engagement in your career (up to 1 single-space page, 10 pt font minimum): Describe any previous experience engaging audiences outside the academy through your scholarly expertise; discuss how the proposed project and public engagement more generally fit into your scholarly career

Project Description: (2 pages, single space, 10 pt. font minimum) Provide a brief overview of your proposed project

A current CV (no preferred format)

A letter from a Department Chair or other senior administrator acknowledging a leave of absence if successfully awarded a Whiting Fellowship

Application Information:

A nominee can 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 Whiting Foundation hopes to support Fellows whose scholarship covers a range of disciplines, periods, and perspectives.
The Foundation also hopes to 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 the Foundation distinguishes between the interpretive humanities and 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.

Eligibility Criteria:

Professors in the humanities who received tenure between September 1, 2010 and October 15, 2015 are eligible to apply. For this, the pilot round, the Whiting Foundation seeks scholars who have at least modest experience that demonstrates an orientation toward public engagement.

To provide guidance to applicants as regards disciplines that fall under the category of Humanities the Whiting Foundation has cited a useful list compiled by The Humanities Indicators Project. The Whiting Foundation notes that individual scholars doing humanistic work in the social-science fields such as cultural anthropology are also eligible.

Review Criteria:

Applications submitted to The Whiting Foundation will be peer-reviewed by a committee of distinguished humanities scholars and public humanists from across the disciplines. The 2016-17 fellows they select will be notified in February 2016.

The committee will consider each project in light of the following three 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?

Additional Information, Related Websites, and Proxy Instructions:

Information about this pilot opportunity offered by the Whiting Foundation is not available on the Whiting Foundation website. Applicants who have questions about this Fellowship are asked to follow up with the appropriate research administrator listed here

Contact Information:

For questions about this application, please contact Autumn Bennett at autumn_bennett@harvard.edu

Search Filters:

Institution

Harvard Divinity School
Faculty of Arts and Sciences
Graduate School of Design
Graduate School of Education
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Medical School (Quad)
Harvard School of Dental Medicine (HSDM)
Radcliffe Institute
Wyss Institute

Position

Professor

Type of Competition

Limited Submission

Discipline

Humanities

Type of Award

Fellowship