Skip to main content

Limited Submission Notice: Whiting Public Engagement Programs

Sponsor:

Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation

Summary:

This program celebrates and empowers early-career faculty who embrace public engagement as part of their scholarly vocation by funding ambitious, often collaborative projects to infuse into public life the richness and nuance that give the humanities their lasting value.

In this cycle, Whiting is focusing on history, the study of literature, visual arts, music and other arts; philosophy; and area studies combining these fields like classics and African-American studies.

For more information, click the full Whiting Announcement.

Award:

Fellowship – $50,000

Seed Grant – $10,000

Limited Submission Requirements and Timeline:

One (1) fellowship and one (1) seed funding application per institution is permitted.

Only proposals approved by the Division of Research and Economic Development may be submitted to this program. For such approval, Principal Investigators must first submit a one –to –two page white paper to preaward@boisestate.edu by Friday, April 2.

Your white paper should include the following (these prompts are pulled directly from the Application Requirements:

  • Project overview and intended outcomes: Provide a compelling summary of your public-facing project, making clear the humanities content, format of engagement, and anything to be produced by the project (if applicable).
  • Collaborators: Identify the partners who will be critical to the project’s success. For each, describe their qualifications, their specific role(s) in the project, and the status of your relationship (e.g., not yet contacted, in conversation, firmly committed).
  • Seed Grant:  If you plan to seek out collaborators you have not yet identified, please indicate what kinds of people or organizations they might be and how you will find them.
  • Existing work on similar subjects or in similar media: Describe the competitive field for your proposed project. What gaps exist in the field, and how does your project work to fill them? How does your project fill a need? Whatever your project may be, it is important to demonstrate your understanding of other work that is available on similar topics or in similar media.
  • Intended public and engagement plan: Briefly specify the segment of the public you intend to engage through your project. If there are multiple publics involved, clarify who the project is by, with, and for. Describe your plan to reach them, including the channels you will use. Be sure to make clear, in language compelling to a non-specialist, why the project will be engaging to the public you have chosen.
  • Non-academic skills required for success: Any public-facing project draws not only on the intellectual acumen and subject-matter expertise that will be clear from your CV but also on skills less obviously associated with traditional academic work. Indicate the non-academic skills required for the project to succeed and describe how you have demonstrated expertise in each or will collaborate with someone who has.
  • Timeline: Indicate the timeline of the major steps and milestones for your project. If the project will not be completed in the term of the Fellowship or Seed Grant, be sure to indicate how that term fits into the larger timeline. Note that projects may already be in progress and need not be finished during the Fellowship or Seed Grant period, but we expect that substantial progress will be made through the concentrated attention they allow.
  • Budget: Lay out just the major line items for the overarching public-facing project.

If selected to submit a full proposal, PIs must ensure that proposals meet all requirements stated in the RFP, in the announcement and in the implementing laws and regulations related to this state grant program.

Key Submission Dates:

  • 4/2 – White paper due to preaward@boisestate.edu.
  • We encourage you cc your Dean for visibility as well
  • 4/12 – Internal Awardees Notified
  • 5/26 – Full proposal due to OSP
  • 6/1 – Full proposal due to the Whiting Foundation

Important Note on Requirements:

  • PIs must be full- or part-time humanities faculty in both the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years.
  • Early-career is defined as faculty having received their doctorate between 2008-2020.

Did you find a limited submission opportunity?  Email us!  preaward@boisestate.edu