Planning for five interdisciplinary courses on the theme of resilience, co-taught by faculty in humanities and non-humanities fields.

This proposal outlines a rationale and timeline for the planning of a humanities-focused interdisciplinary curriculum initiative at Norwich University. Less than 3% of students at Norwich, most of whom plan to pursue careers in the military and service-oriented professions, are currently majoring in humanities fields. This initiative will demonstrate the relevance of humanities-based inquiry for all majors and provide hands-on experiential learning and research opportunities that will allow them to become engaged citizen scholars. Over a 12-month period, the planning team will partner with key stakeholders to recruit faculty, promote the program to the Norwich community, and create up to five co-curricular, co-instructed courses with the common theme of resilience. The goal of the planning grant will be to increase visibility and investment in the use-value of the humanities by establishing a pilot curriculum to be implemented in Fall 2019, aligning with Norwich’s bicentennial.

A three-year project to implement a new team-taught curriculum integrating humanities with the sciences and professional fields.

The Norwich Humanities Initiative (NHI) is a multi-year project at Norwich University to support a new team-taught curriculum focused on the integration of the humanities with the sciences and professional fields. The NHI was created with funding from a NEH Humanities Connections Planning Grant with the goal to expand opportunities for students to engage in interdisciplinary conversations and activities that demonstrate the impact of the humanities across disciplines. Our project will expand the NHI curriculum through new course development with embedded undergraduate research and experiential learning opportunities and cultivate the development of citizen scholars, or people who bring a critically informed understanding of the world to their life and work through humanistic practices of teamwork, leadership, creativity, and critical thinking. In short, this project will centralize the role of the humanities at Norwich University and prepare our students for life, work, and citizenship.

A one-semester seminar to be offered at least twice, to undergraduates, on the problem of individualism and its dangers.

I am proposing to develop a course for first-year undergraduates at the University of Vermont. The course is pre-disciplinary and addresses several questions of enduring moral and political importance: Which forms of individualism, if any, are worth aspiring to? What are their dangers? And which forms should be resisted?

The development of an undergraduate course highlighting historical and cultural issues related to the translation of texts from one language to another.

The development of an undergraduate course highlighting historical and cultural issues related to the translation of texts from one language to another. In six units, the course pairs critical writing about translation with multiple translations of primary sources. Unit one, Is anything lost in translation? begins with an examination of fundamental problems of translation related to language, cognition, and culture with excerpts from Cicero, St. Jerome, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Edward Sapir, and Benjamin Whorf, in addition to selected chapters from David Bellos's recent book, Is That a Fish in Your Ear? Unit two, What is lost when we translate sacred texts? surveys the historic debates over Biblical translations in Europe, with readings including (among other sources) Purvey's prologue to the Wycliffe Bible, the translators' preface to the King James Bible, and Eugen Nida's seminal work on "dynamic equivalence." Students then read Books I and II of Genesis (covering the cosmogony and the tower of Babel story) in over a dozen versions from the Coverdale to the Revised Standard Catholic. Unit three, What is lost when we translate poetry? tests Bellos's proposition that such translations "cannot be 'poetry' itself." Students see how this idea is contradicted and confirmed by reading (among other works) a dozen translations of book one of The Iliad. Unit four, What is lost when we translate "exotic" languages? explores how the assumptions translators make about other cultures can affect their translation choices. The class reads "The Tale of the Ensorcelled Prince" from One Thousand and One Nights in a dozen versions from the Victorian period to the present. They also discuss the preservation of lost Greek texts in Arabic translation during the Abbassid. Unit five, What is lost when we translate texts we can't understand? explores the implications of translation as a creative personal process and the assumptions made in the face of cultural, linguistic, and historical differences. Primary focus is on the classic of Daoism known as the Tao Te Ching. The final unit, What is gained when we translate? explores new paradigms to see what they may contribute to our understanding of the enduring question, while delving further into the creative potential of translation as a form of translingual artistic collaboration. Students read excerpts from the seminal work by Pound on "ideogrammic" translation, Lefevere on translation as "re-writing," De Campos on translation as "cannibalism," Liu on neologisms in "translingual practice," Niranjana on translation as "Orientalism," and Bassnett and Bellos on translation "hegemonies" and the global market.

A special grant program, reading and discussion programs, and public lectures and Humanities Camps for at-risk middle school students that explore significant themes and events in American history and culture.

Between January 1, 2006 and December 31, 2006, the Vermont Humanities Council (VHC) proposes to use We the People (WTP) funds to strengthen and -augment the programmatic offerings of our three flagship program formats: reading and discussion programs, public lectures and presentations, and grants. Program offerings, which are free and open to the public, will build upon the success of WTP programs funded from September 1, 2004 to December 31, 2005.

The Vermont Humanities Council will use talks, living history presentations, lectures, reading and discussions series for both the general public and low-literacy groups, summer humanities camps for at-risk middle school youth, and grants to increase knowledge and understanding of American and Vermont history.

In 2008, Vermont Humanities Council (VHC) plans to use We the People (WTP) funds to build upon the successes of previous WTP grants. Between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, VHC will use WTP funds in four previously-funded areas: public lectures and presentations, grants, reading and discussion programs, and humanities camps. Program offerings will be free and open to the public.

Funding will support 95 talks and living history presentations as part of the Council's Speakers Bureau; 25 First Wednesdays lectures, a monthly humanities forum held in 9 libraries statewide; reading and discussion programs, including 12 programs for adult new readers; 3 humanities camps for at-risk middle school students; and grants for projects related to Vermont history, the Civil War Home Front, and civic engagement.

In calendar year 2010, the Vermont Humanities Council (VHC) plans to use WTP funds to continue to build upon the successes of previous WTP grants. Between January 1, 2010 and Dec. 31, 2010, VHC will use WTP funds in four previously funded areas: public lectures and presentations, grants, reading and discussion programs and humanities camps. Program offerings will be free and open to the public.

Two one-week Landmarks workshops for 72 K-12 school teachers on the American Revolution in Vermont.

The Vermont Archaeological Society, in partnership with two museums and the Vermont State Historic Sites Program, proposes to offer a new Landmarks of American History and Culture Workshop entitled, “Freedom and Unity: The Struggle for Independence on the Vermont Frontier.” The workshop will feature a program of place-based and participatory learning activities related to the events of the American Revolution at seven historic sites in Vermont’s Champlain Valley, including sessions held on Lake Champlain in a replica of the 1776 USS Philadelphia. The workshop will target educators who teach history and social studies at the 6-12 grade levels, as well as those who co-teach with social studies colleagues or wish to incorporate historic place-based education to engage students in their subject matter in new ways. In sum, the workshop will demonstrate methods of how to teach students about history and how to teach with historic sites to meet learning outcomes across the curriculum.

Development of five walking path tours and an educational visitor center to interpret the historical relationship between people and the environment in Vermont.

The Retreat Farm, in Brattleboro, Vermont, is developing a new outdoor museum employing a humanities approach to connect, teach and enrich public understanding of Vermont’s iconic landscape as a microcosm of our human place on the earth. Five thematic walking paths will tell stories of landscape change on this ground over time, while a culminating landscape learning center extracts the lessons of environmental degradation and redemption. This historic and strategic site is exceptionally rich in stories of indigenous peoples, international warfare, New England settlement, natural healing, and agricultural history. Our plan is to use the power of the humanities to instill a deeper understanding of the worlds we build around us.

Planning of a major permanent exhibition on the rise of precision manufacturing and its importance in American industrial history.

At a site uniquely positioned to tell the story of precision manufacturing in America, this project will interpret the American Precision Museum through a major, permanent exhibition on the history of the machine tool and the rise of the ?American System? of manufacturing.This will be the first major, permanent exhibition to explore Vermont?s industrial history in any depth, and it will overturn many a visitor?s pre-conceived notions about New England industry. Building upon one of the finest collections of machine tools in the nation, the museum will develop an exhibition that not only illuminates the machines but also explores the lives of the people who made and used them. Windsor is considered to be the cradle of precision manufacturing. The machines and systems designed and built here made mass production possible. Mass production in turn has made possible abundant food and clothing, improved sanitation and health care, and the leisure for universal education.

Implementation of a permanent exhibition presenting new scholarship on the history of the Underground Railroad in Vermont and northern New England.

Rokeby Museum, a National Historic Landmark designated for its Underground Railroad history, seeks NEH funds to install a 2,500 square foot permanent exhibit in a new building to be constructed on site. The Museum has pioneered a more nuanced understanding of the Underground Railroad for nearly two decades and now wishes to make its story accessible to the large and diverse audience that is eager to hear it. Based on a rare cache of historic documents in the Museum collection, the exhibit tells the stories of Simon and Jesse, fugitives from Maryland and North Carolina who found their way to Rokeby in 1837, and of the Robinson family's deep religious beliefs carried into action, setting them both in the context of antebellum history. This exhibit will serve as a much-needed model of sensitive interpretation based on historical documents and the latest scholarship. NEH funds will be used for final consultation with humanities advisors, final text editing and design, and fabrication.

To support the renovation of a historic barn, the preparation of a permanent exhibition on the history of agriculture at this site, the construction of an orientation center, and the creation of exhibitions for the center.

To support the endowment of educational programs in the humanities and some renovation costs.

No project description available

No project description available

To repay short-term debt; improve and integrate development and alumni functions; and endow humanities activities.

Purchase and renovation of a new facility for the Vermont Humanities Council, and endowment for programs.

As the Vermont Humanities Council enters its fourth decade, it seeks to create a Humanities Center in Montpelier, which would serve as office, meeting place, resource center, and site for some local Council programs. Such a center would move the office of this state-wide organization from Morrisville to Montpelier, the state capital. VHC purchased a Victorian Italianate building in Montpelier in December 2004. The Council is conducting an $800,000 capital campaign to pay for the facility, renovate it for VHC programs and provide $100,000 of new endowment. This $200,000 NEH challenge grant application is an essential part of that campaign. Reduced operating costs and income from the new endowment will provide funds for new and expanded program initiatives as well.

Construction of a year-round exhibition and education facility at Shelburne Museum.

Shelburne Museum requests a $500,000 challenge grant from NEH to support construction of a new 12,000 square foot facility comprised of nine galleries and the Museum's first modern classroom and dedicated venue for lectures. This new facility will enable the Museum, which is now open just six months a year due to the limitations of its infrastructure, to become a year-round center for education and to better serve its public with humanities offerings founded on the Museum's collections of over 150,000 works of folk, fine, and decorative arts. It will also enable a year-round schedule of special exhibitions that broaden the Museum's audience, and the expansion education programs for K-12, senior, and general audiences. This project is transformative for the Museum and builds its institutional capacity by implementing central objectives of a long-term strategic plan that call for year-round access to the collections. This request represents %6 of the estimated cost of construction.

The design and construction of the new Perry Center for Native American Art on the campus of the Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont.

Shelburne Museum requests a $1,000,000 NEH Infrastructure and Capacity Building Challenge Grant to support the creation of the Perry Center for Native American Art. The Perry Center, rooted in Museum founder Electra Havemeyer Webb's early interests in Indigenous art, will transform the Museum's humanities infrastructure and visitor experience by adding a facility for the culturally appropriate interpretation and care of Indigenous material culture. The Perry Center will be a 9,500 SF state-of-the-art building designed by Adjaye Associates and surrounded by an intentional landscape designed by Reed Hilderbrand. The Center will house galleries, ritual spaces and demonstration facilities, as well as storage specifically designed to serve the needs of the communities from which the collections originated. Designed and realized in partnership with Indigenous voices, the Perry Center will reimagine the visitor experience at Shelburne Museum.

Developing an interdisciplinary core humanities program for arts students

To support consultant help in restructuring the humanities core curriculum so that it better serves the interests and needs of its technical clientele.

To provide consultant help in evaluating the present use of resources at the College of Saint Joseph the Provider, in developing a rationale and means of evaluating internal efficiency as related to the Arts and Sciences Division's growth, and in establishing academic and procedural alternatives.

Presently shifting from a two-year to a four-year program, this college needs consultant aid to integrate distributive humanities courses into more applied career-related courses to provide a coherent, well-rounded education.

To support a project of intensive summer study pairing middle and high school teachers of literature with college faculty-mentors to design electronic literature-based exchanges for their classes.

To support the development of materials to use in teaching Arabic in its cultural context that will integrate formal written Arabic with the most widely spoken form.