NEH Announces Reorganization of its Grantmaking Offices, Programs, and Personnel
Today, the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has announced an agency-wide reorganization to consolidate its grantmaking programs and divisions.
Following a reduction in force (RIF) of two thirds of the agency’s workforce in June, NEH will merge the functions and staff of seven grantmaking offices and divisions into four new divisions to support projects that advance humanities research, education, public programs, infrastructure, and cultural preservation.
Since its creation in 1965, NEH has awarded more than $6.5 billion for humanities projects through more than 70,000 grants, giving Americans in every state and jurisdiction the opportunity to engage with high-quality programs, resources, and experiences that illuminate history, culture, languages, literature, and ideas. That public investment has led to the creation of books, films, and museum exhibits, and to ensuring the preservation of significant cultural resources around the country. NEH grants have funded the scholarly editing and publication of the papers of twelve U.S. presidents, made 23 million pages of historic American newspapers publicly available through the Chronicling America website, and provided enrichment programs for K-12 and college educators.
Effective immediately, NEH’s new divisions will be:
Division of Federal/State Partnership
NEH’s Division of Federal/State Partnership is charged with carrying out the Congressional mandate of establishing and maintaining humanities councils in the 56 states and U.S. jurisdictions and coordinating the partnership between NEH and the councils. The Division is responsible for administration and oversight of statutory federal operating support funding for the 56 humanities councils and managing collaborative projects and initiatives between NEH and the nonprofit state and local humanities councils.
Jason Harshman will serve as the new Director of the Division of Federal/State Partnership. He joined NEH in 2019, and most recently served as Deputy Director of the Division of Education Programs and led NEH’s Landmarks of American History and Culture program. He received his PhD from Ohio State University, where he directed a masters and teacher preparation program. Before coming to NEH, Harshman was an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Iowa and held affiliate faculty positions in the College of Liberal Arts and Center for International Programs. His research and publication record focused on issues of place and culture, with projects in South Africa, Turkey, India, South Korea, and Japan.
Division of Collections & Infrastructure
NEH’s Division of Collections & Infrastructure makes grants to organizations that seek to address the physical deterioration of their humanities collections as well as to provide access to them, including through the latest digital and other technologies. The Division’s programs focus on the twin goals of ensuring the long-term and the wide availability of primary resources in the humanities for scholars, teachers, students, and the public. The Division also supports the nation’s humanities infrastructure through “challenge” programs that enable humanities organizations to strengthen their financial stability. Challenge awards typically require the recipient to raise one to four dollars in new donations from non-federal sources for each federal dollar received.
Margaret Walker Clair will serve as the new Director of the Division of Collections & Infrastructure. Walker Clair joined NEH in 2018 as a Program Officer in the Division of Preservation & Access and became the division’s Deputy Director in 2020. In this capacity, she has worked with the division team to develop, refine, and implement grant programs and special projects that support organizations in their efforts to advance the potential of humanities collections through description and discovery, training and capacity building, and preventative care. Previously, she was the Assistant Curator of the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery, where she managed a teaching collection of over 7,000 objects and a regular program of exhibitions. Walker Clair holds an A.B. in History from Princeton University and an M.Sc. in the History of Art, Theory and Display from the University of Edinburgh. Her research interests and publications have focused on the arts during the Great War, museum management, and Tennessee artists.
Division of Lifelong Learning
NEH’s Division of Lifelong Learning provides humanities programming for the public as well as humanities programming geared towards the K-12 and postsecondary education sectors. The Division supports humanities projects in museums, historical and cultural organizations, libraries, K-12 classrooms, and colleges and universities, as well as for television, radio, and digital media. By developing quality humanities programs that foster public engagement in and appreciation for the humanities, the Division of Lifelong Learning delivers the best in the humanities for all Americans.
Jeff Hardwick will serve as the new Director of the Division of Lifelong Learning. Hardwick has been with NEH for 17 years, serving most recently as the Director of the Division of Public Programs supporting museums, historic sites, and media projects. Before NEH, he worked at several museums including the Smithsonian and Corcoran Museum of Art and taught 20th-century American history, architectural history, and public history at numerous universities including Yale, Temple, George Mason, and George Washington. His academic background is in American Studies, with a doctorate from Yale University and a master’s from the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware. Hardwick published a biography of the émigré architect Victor Gruen, Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of the American Dream.
Division of Research
NEH’s Division of Research supports advanced humanities research by making grants to scholars, teachers and writers, and to educational and research organizations. These grants support individuals and collaborative teams of scholars and researchers in exploring archives, interpreting humanities texts and materials, developing and using digital tools, discovering new knowledge or rediscovering truths. The Division of Research also supports the humanities by commissioning studies on the state of the humanities to assess Americans’ engagement with the humanities and monitor trends within individual fields of study.
Stefanie Walker will serve as the new Director of the Division of Research. Walker started her NEH career in 2009 as a Senior Program Officer in the Research Division and served as Director of Challenge Programs from 2020 to 2025. Before NEH, she was a faculty member and special exhibitions curator for ten years at the Bard Graduate Center for studies in the Decorative Arts, Design and Culture in New York City. In D.C., she has been affiliated with the Geroge Washington University-Smithsonian Associates Master’s Program for History in the Decorative Arts. She has been co-editor or contributor to several publications, including The Silver Caesars: A Renaissance Mystery and Display of Art in the Roman Palace 1550–1750. Walker holds her doctorate in art history from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts. She is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome and an honorary member of the Roman Goldsmiths Guild.
Additionally, Carol Peters will serve as the agency’s new Director of Special Projects, with a focus on contributing to the agency’s work in connection with the U.S. Semiquincentennial. In anticipation of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026, NEH currently offers several funding opportunities through the agency’s A More Perfect Union initiative that focus on exploring America’s story and celebrating its 250 years of cultural heritage. In connection with the January 2025 “Celebrating America’s Birthday” Presidential Executive Order, NEH is administering a special grant program to support the design and creation of statues of important Americans for the planned National Garden of American Heroes. Other Semiquincentennial-related funding opportunities include NEH’s Celebrate America, Rediscovering Our Revolutionary Tradition, and Public Humanities Projects grant programs.
Carol Peters has served as Director of the Division of Education. Since joining NEH in 2006, Peters has been a principal on several significant agency agreements, including those with the Verizon Foundation, the Department of Education, iCivics, the Teagle Foundation, and National History Day. Peters holds a PhD in art history from Indiana University Bloomington.
National Endowment for the Humanities: The National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at neh.gov.