Enduring Questions: Pilot Course Grants

Post Date

July 14th 2011

Application Due Date

September 15th 2011

Funding Opportunity Number

20110915-AQ

CFDA Number(s)

45.163

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Grant

Funding Activity Categories

Humanities

Eligibility Categories

State Governments
County Governments
City or Township Governments
Special District Governments
Public and State Controlled Institutions of Higher Education
Federally Recognized Native American Tribal Governments
Non-Profits With 501 (c) (3) Status With The IRS (Except Higher Education Institutions)
Private Institutions of Higher Education

Funding

• Award Range:

  $0 - $25000

Grant Description

The NEH Enduring Questions grant program supports the development of a new 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. What is an enduring question? The following list is neither prescriptive nor exhaustive but serves to illustrate. In addition, please also consider the questions raised in the sample funded projects. What is good government? What is the value of work? What is friendship? What is evil? Are there universals in human nature? What are the origins of the universe? 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 will help promote such dialogue in today╔к_s undergraduate environment.The course is to be developed by one or more (up to four) faculty members, but not team taught. Enduring Questions courses must be taught from a common syllabus and must be 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 be taught by faculty from any department or discipline in the humanities or by faculty outside the humanities (e.g., astronomy, biology, economics, law, mathematics, medicine, psychology), so long as humanities sources are central to the course.

Contact Information

• Agency

  National Endowment for the Humanities

• Office:

  None

• Agency Contact:

  Enduring Questions
  Division of Education Programs
  National Endowment for the Humanities
  Room 302
  1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC 20506
  202-606-8380

• Agency Mailing Address:

  enduringquestions@neh.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  enduringquestions@neh.gov

• More Information:

  http://www.neh.gov/grants/guidelines/EnduringQuestions.html