Institutes for Higher Education Faculty
Division of Education Programs
THE DEADLINE FOR THIS CYCLE HAS PASSED.
Updated guidelines will be posted in advance of the next deadline. In the meantime, please use these guidelines to get a sense of what is involved in assembling an application.
Grant Snapshot
Maximum award amount
Open to
Period of performance
Application available
Optional Draft due
Application due
Expected notification date
Project start date
NEH Institutes are professional development programs that convene higher education faculty from across the nation in order to deepen and enrich their understanding of a variety of topics in the humanities and enrich their capacity for effective scholarship and teaching.
Most fundamentally, institutes:
- allow immersive study of topics of significance to the humanities
- foster new fields of study and/or revitalize existing areas of inquiry
- reinvigorate teaching and increase intellectual impact in the classroom
- build lasting communities that foster participants’ intellectual and professional collaboration
They should:
- ground the study in significant humanities texts and related resources
- explore multiple approaches to the topic in a manner that is both rigorous and collegial
- provide opportunities for deep and collaborative engagement with the topic
- model excellent scholarship and teaching
- consider how the topic engages recent developments in the scholarship, teaching, and curriculum of participants’ professional settings
- reach the widest possible audience for whom the topic is relevant
Optional Draft Review: Submit a draft of your narrative to @email by February 8, 2021 to receive feedback from program officers before the final deadline.
What’s New for 2021
1. NEH will not offer seminars in 2022, but institutes may involve small teams of visiting scholars and/or significant time for seminar-style discussion.
2. Institutes may be offered in a residential, virtual, or hybrid format.
3. The program of study may include time before, during, and/or after the summer.
4. Participant stipends will vary depending on both project format and duration.
5. Level II applicants must propose a significantly more robust dissemination plan than in previous years.
6. All applicants must include an academic schedule and a work plan.
Begin by reading the Notice of Funding Opportunity, below. You want to ensure you understand all the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and are prepared to write the most effective application.
Application Materials
Institutes for Higher Education Faculty Notice of Funding Opportunity, 2021
Institutes for Higher Education 2021 Grants.gov application package
Program Resources
Institutes for Higher Education Faculty Frequently Asked Questions
2021 Summer Programs in the Humanities
Institutes for Higher Education Faculty Awards, 2018-2021
Principles of Civility for NEH Summer Programs (PDF)
Sample Application Narratives
Institutes for Higher Education Faculty: Buddhist East Asia
To apply for this grant, you will be need to be registered for a D-U-N-S® number, with the System for Awards Management (SAM), and with Grants.gov. If you have registered with these systems previously, confirm that your registrations are current and up to date. If you fail to allow ample time to complete registration with SAM or Grants.gov, you will not be eligible for a deadline extension or waiver of the online electronic submission requirement.
Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and the Grants.gov instructions.
You will receive a confirmation from Grants.gov when you've successfully submitted your application.
After you submit your application, Grants.gov will send you up to five e-mail messages confirming receipt of your application. These messages represent different stages in the application acceptance process. You should verify that you have received all confirmation messages. Please note that email filters may send these messages to your spam or junk folder.
ONLY FOR PROJECT DIRECTORS WHO HAVE NOT PREVIOUSLY DIRECTED AN NEH SUMMER PROGRAM, AND EXPERIENCED DIRECTORS APPLYING FOR AN ENTIRELY NEW PROJECT:
Several days after the proposal deadline, NEH will provide instructions on how to submit reference letters. Reference letters should be submitted no later than March 19, 2021.