Application Procedures and Eligibility

Proposals for a full-scale project must be submitted by full-time faculty members in qualifying departments and programs. Proposals should clearly state the aims of the project, the means of achieving those aims, and why the proposed format is best suited to achieve them. As they develop their proposals, applicants to the Humanities Project are strongly encouraged to consider these aims before they settle on the format the project might take. Proposals that are not centrally focused on the humanities cannot be considered. Proposals must be submitted no less than three weeks in advance of the first proposed event date in order to be considered. This timeframe is meant to promote dexterity and responsiveness to current events but it is also important to abide by the deadlines to maintain the integrity of the review process.

Please note that Humanities Project funds cannot be used to pay University of Rochester faculty or staff for their work or time associated with a Project.

The application period begins on the first day of Fall semester classes and ends two weeks prior to the last day of Spring semester classes. 

Application Criteria

The Humanities Project committee will ask the following questions, among others, when deciding whether or not to fund a particular project:

  1. Does the proposed subject matter, approach, and methodology belong properly to the humanities?
  2. Has the PI made an effort to integrate his or her proposal into campus life (e.g., securing collaboration and/or co-sponsorship from faculty in other departments or linking the project to existing courses)?
  3. Will the proposed project help raise the profile of the humanities on campus?
  4. Has the PI already received Humanities Project funding in recent years? (We encourage repeat customers—indeed, some of the best Humanities Projects in recent years have come from people who had already received prior funding—but the committee may decide in favor of new PIs if there isn’t enough money available to fund multiple projects).
  5. Does the PI have a record of publicly supporting the humanities on campus (e.g., participating in Humanities Center events, serving on committees, etc.)?
  6. If the PI has received a Humanities Project in the past, have the submitted a final report for that event?
  7. Faculty will also need to demonstrate that they have kept their departmental faculty webpage up to date, including publications, awards, courses taught, and other relevant activities.

To view an examplary proposal, click here.

Application Procedures

Humanities Project applications should include the following information:

  1. Title of the project.
  2. Name(s) and email(s) of participating faculty, with lead faculty member’s name listed first.
  3. Brief overview or abstract of the project (suitable for web page or other publicity).
  4. Detailed academic rationale, including potential connections with other projects or research endeavors within or external to the School of Arts and Sciences.
  5. An explanation of the project’s structure and goals, including names, affiliations, and brief biographies of potential invited guests, and nature of the audience.
  6. A detailed budget. Click here for a budget template. Please be clear as to how much money you are requesting from the Humanities Project specifically if you have multiple sources of funding.
  7. Potential outside sources of funding. If you have already secured outside sources of funding, please be clear as to how much you are requesting from the Humanities Project specifically.

Please email your application to Tanya Bakhmetyeva.

We welcome draft applications and budgets on which the committee will provide feedback and advice, but the committee makes no guarantee that such advice indicates eventual approval. We invite colleagues to alert us to upcoming proposals for future years, especially if these are large projects that might require significant funds, and/or provide significant opportunities for collaboration, and/or are multi-year in concept.

Within two weeks of completion of the project, it is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator to furnish the Humanities Project Administrative Committee with a final report. The report should include a description of the project, an assessment of its success and what, in hindsight, you may have done differently (this will be useful for future PIs), and, most important, thoughts on the contributions the project has made to the University and to the College. Please click here to submit your report.

All funds must be spent in the same fiscal year in which the project took place. Any remaining funds after June 30 will be swept and cannot be carried forward to be spent after that date. This means all payments must be submitted and processed prior to June 30. If your project takes place in May or June, please work with Jennie Gilardoni to determine the best course of action for processing payments.