Funding Opportunity for

Individuals

Awards for Faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Maximum award amount

$5,000 per month

Displayed expected output

Article; Research leading to improvement of existing undergraduate course; Research related to goals and interests of the institution or community; Book; Digital Resource or Publication; Edition; Other Scholarly Resource; Translation

Period of performance

Two to twelve months, full-time equivalent

If you receive a “Bad Request” error message when you click the red “Apply” button in Grants.gov, it is possible you need to set up an individual profile. See Creating an ‘Individual’ Profile in Grants.gov for more information.

The Awards for Faculty program strengthens the humanities at Historically Black Colleges and Universities by encouraging and expanding humanities research opportunities for individual faculty and staff members. Awards support individuals pursuing scholarly research that is of value to humanities scholars, students, and/or general audiences.

  • research in primary and secondary materials leading to the development of books, monographs, peer-reviewed articles, e-books, digital materials, translations with annotations or a critical apparatus, critical editions, or other scholarly resources
  • research related to institutional or community goals or interests, such as projects that draw on archival collections, collection and interpretation of oral histories, or the development of materials in support of culture or language preservation and revitalization
  • research leading to the improvement of a single existing undergraduate course, including the development of humanities resources (for example, oral histories, identification and preparation of previously unavailable archival sources, or newly compiled historical or literary collections)
  • research leading to digital or web-based products intended to supplement a course revision or publication project

The program is open to all faculty and staff members, including full-time, part-time, adjunct, and retired faculty and staff at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Awards support individuals who work between half time and full time on their projects. Projects may be at any stage of development.

If you are awarded an Awards for Faculty at HBCUs or TCUs fellowship, your institution may be eligible to apply for funding to offset costs associated with your research leave, including funds to offset costs associated with hiring replacement instructors for humanities courses that the Awards for Faculty fellow would normally teach. Please visit Awards for Faculty Institutional Support – HBCUs and TCUs (neh.gov) for full details about this new program.

Watch a webinar about the program and NOFO:

Register to join NEH Staff for live Q&A sessions about the program. Submit questions in advance or bring them to the session:

Live Q&A session, January 25, 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm ET
Registration link: https://teams.microsoft.com/registration/WWSwk33HtkSvf-gTzdzcww,3c9X9dCp-EG-h1ajTaxtRA,L82laosWM0asovN0yP-OXg,YB7E1LSjEEK647QXJMMFXw,SP5R9H4FmUaYNw-OSRN5ww,BtB3D3dLr02WGR1_Lqt7lA?mode=read&tenantId=93b06459-c77d-44b6-af7f-e813cddcdcc3&webinarRing=gcc

Live Q&A session, February 27, 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Eastern Time
Registration link: https://teams.microsoft.com/registration/WWSwk33HtkSvf-gTzdzcww,3c9X9dCp-EG-h1ajTaxtRA,L82laosWM0asovN0yP-OXg,hQZlb2-xfk6H7m-_BoRRRQ,EknzM0snFECu_Oog892vNQ,oSbnUi5670W0UGFrYTK-jg?mode=read&tenantId=93b06459-c77d-44b6-af7f-e813cddcdcc3&webinarRing=gcc

Note about Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence

This grant program is one of ten NEH programs that are part of NEH’s Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative, which is encouraging research on the ethical, legal, and societal implications of AI. To learn more about the initiative, please see our page about the AI initiative.

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Application Instructions

Review your application package

Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity to ensure you understand all the expectations and restrictions for projects delivered under this program and that you are prepared to write the most effective application. 

Application Materials

Notice of Funding Opportunity 2023-2024 (PDF)

Grants.gov application package

Program Resources

Frequently Asked Questions, 2023-2024 (PDF)

Awards for Faculty Sample Projects (PDF)

List of recent awards

Sample Application Narratives

The narrative samples below are not intended to serve as models, but to give you a sense of how a successful application might be crafted. Note that the format has changed since these applications were submitted. Follow the guidelines in the currently posted Notice of Funding Opportunity to insure that your application is complete and eligible.

Scholarly Resources Projects and Community or Institutional Goals or Interests Projects

Sample Application:  A Study of Diné (Navajo) Traditional Sheep Butchering

Sample Application: The End of Exceptionalism: African Americans Theorizing Race and Imperialism in South Africa and Beyond

Sample Application: The History of Spanish Caribbean Music in New York City and the Shaping of an International Sound, 1940-1990

Sample Application: Women Writers and the Portrayal of Women in British Indian Fiction

Sample Application: Women of Leech Lake Nation: Historical Trauma and Colonization

Sample Application: Moroccan Director Moumen Smihi (b.1945): Arab Modernities and Cinema

Sample Application: Civil Wars and Civil Beings: Societal Construction, Reconstruction, and Post-Reconstruction in Perry County, Alabama, 1860-1875

Sample Application: Andean Cosmopolitans: Indigenous Journeys to the Habsburg Royal Court

Sample Application, The Abolitionist Movement's Involvement in American Politics, 1750-1865

Sample Application, The Discourse of Sovereignty in American Indian Print Culture

Sample Application, A History of Prison Architecture and Punishment in Colonial Senegal

Sample Application, The Mind of Eighteenth-Century British Writer Charlotte Lennox

Sample Application, Northern Cheyenne Ledger-Art Notebooks

Course Revision Projects

Sample Application: Memoria Presente: The Common Spanish Legacy in Italian and Latin American Cultures

Sample Application, Pre-Columbian Art of the Western and Northern Frontiers of Mesoamerica

Register for an account on Grants.gov

When you are ready to apply, register for a Grants.gov account. If you already have registered, make sure the account is current. After registering, you must add an “individual applicant” profile. Click on the “My Account” link, then on “Manage Profiles” and “Add Profile.” Refer to Grants.gov’s instructions for adding a profile.

Complete your application package

As soon you are ready to apply, register for a Grants.gov account as this is vital to the application process. If you already registered, confirm that your registration is current.

Submit your application package on Grants.gov

Follow the instructions outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity and Grants.gov. 

Monitor the status of the submission of your letters of recommendation

NEH will request letters of reference from your recommenders approximately seven to ten days after the application deadline. You will be notified by email when each of your letters of reference has been received. Once you receive final confirmation of receipt from Grants.gov, you may check the status of your letters by logging in to the secure area of NEH’s website. Enter your NEH application number and your Grants.gov tracking number. You will be able to see the names and e-mail addresses of your letter writers and whether their letters have arrived. If necessary, you may send reminders to your letter writers (including the upload link) from this site. You are responsible for ensuring that your letter writers have received the solicitations from NEH and submitted their letters.