ENDURING QUESTIONS

Description: The NEH Enduring Questions grant program supports the development of a new undergraduate course that will foster intellectual community through the study of an enduring question. This course will encourage undergraduates and teachers to grapple with a fundamental question addressed by the humanities and to join together in a deep and sustained program of reading in order to encounter influential thinkers over the centuries and into the present day.

Enduring questions are questions to which no discipline, field or profession can lay an exclusive claim. In many cases they predate the formation of the academic disciplines themselves. Enduring questions can be tackled by reflective individuals regardless of their chosen vocations, areas of expertise or personal backgrounds. They are questions that have more than one plausible or compelling answer. They have long held interest for young people, and they allow for a special, intense dialogue across generations. The Enduring Questions grant program is designed to help promote such dialogue in today's undergraduate environment.

Enduring Questions courses must be taught from a common syllabus and offered during the grant period at least twice by each faculty member involved in developing the course. The grant supports the work of a faculty member in designing, preparing and assessing the course. It may also be used for ancillary activities that enhance faculty-student intellectual community, such as visits to museums and artistic or cultural events. An Enduring Questions course may draw on artworks and must:

• Focus on an explicitly stated question, pursued in a disciplined and deliberate manner.
• Draw on works from a range of historical periods, with a preference for reading works in their entirety or in substantial portions.
• Reflect intellectual pluralism, anticipating more than one plausible or compelling answer to the question at hand.
• Be open to students regardless of major or concentration.
• Be supported by the college or university at which it is being offered.

Projects will be evaluated on their intellectual quality, feasibility and impact.

Fit for public broadcasting: Though public broadcasting stations are eligible to apply for this program, those without strong relationships to institutions of higher education will be at a disadvantage. Stations with university licenses are particularly well-suited for this project. In the call for applications for this program, NEH mentions that online course materials and other web-based resources may be necessary for some projects. Public broadcasting stations can partner with local colleges and universities to provide these media components. As impact is an important criteria in the evaluation of proposed projects, those with an online component that expands the reach of the project will be more competitive.

Eligibility: Any U.S. nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status is eligible, as are state and local governmental agencies.

Anticipated funding: This program will grant as much as $38,000 per award for projects serving a single institution. The size of the maximum award ranges between $22,000 and $38,000 based on the number of faculty involved in developing the course. On average NEH typically makes grants to 10 percent of all submitted applications. The grant period may run between 18 and 36 months. Recipients may begin their grants as early as May 1, 2014 but no later than January 1, 2015. Cost sharing is not required.

How to apply: Application materials can be downloaded from Grants.gov. All applications must be submitted using Grants.gov. Online submission requires registration, a process that usually takes three to five business days but can take as long as four weeks. Be sure to visit Grants.gov and begin registering well in advance of the grant deadline.

Questions concerning the Enduring Questions grant program can be submitted by email to enduringquestions@neh.gov.

Resources:
Program notice
Program website, including brief descriptions of two funded projects
Successful application narrative, New York University
Successful application narrative, University of Arizona
Successful application narrative, York County Technical College