Mellon Public Engagement and the Humanities Workshop

The Mellon Public Engagement and the Humanities Workshop will bring together a cohort of humanities faculty and graduate students to connect, learn, and advance their thinking and work in the realm of public scholarship while aiming to narrow the gap between humanities and public audiences outside the university through public communication and engagement.

A small group of six faculty and six graduate students will spend eight weeks during the summer learning tools for public communication, visiting the public humanities ecosystem in Michigan, exploring why collaboration and public engagement matters to the humanities, and developing connections to implement their new knowledge and shared understanding in their specific projects that integrate research and public engagement.

The program will consist of a mix of workshops, discussion, collaborative work, site visits, and hands-on activities that allow participants to explore issues of public engagement and the humanities in more depth. Workshops will train participants in collaborative practice, public writing, and public communications. During site visits, participants will travel to local organizations, such as museums, libraries, and other nonprofits, where they will have the chance to have a structured conversation with one or more hosts at that organization.

Goals

• Make connections between humanities faculty and graduate students across departments.
• Foster knowledge of public humanities methods and institutions among faculty and graduate students.
• Provide support for faculty and graduate students in developing a public engagement project.

Dates

Participants must be available in-person between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays between May 8 and June 26, 2020. Workshops, speakers, discussion, and site visits will be scheduled within these blocks. Some days will likely be shorter depending on the nature of our activities.

Who is Eligible to Apply

• There are spaces for six graduate students and six faculty.
• Graduate students in any humanities or humanistic social sciences field interested in advancing their public scholarship in collaboration with peers, faculty, and public humanities professionals.
• Faculty in the humanities or humanistic social sciences interested in working collaboratively to advance their scholarship and impact outside the university.

Graduate student preference given to those who have participated in one or more of the following Rackham Program in Public Scholarship Programs:

• Institute for Social Change
• Engaged Pedagogy Initiative
• Mellon Public Humanities and/or Rackham Public Engagement Fellowship
• Public Scholarship Grant recipient

Stipend

• Students: $8,000
• Faculty: Summer ninth (up to $12,000)

Requirements

• Excitement and openness to working collaboratively.
• Attend all workshops, meeting dates, and site visits.
• Letter of recommendation from a faculty member (graduate students only; does not need to be your advisor/chair).
• Organize a departmental workshop on public engagement in the year following participation in the program (faculty only).
• Create and/or make significant progress on plans for a new public cultural good or service that connects your research to public audiences (see examples below).
• Share your work and process with the campus community during a short presentation on the final day of the program.

How to Apply

Please submit the following materials to [email protected] by Friday, January 31, 2020 at 11:59 p.m:

• Short one to two page letter describing your interest in and commitment to collaborative work and public engagement, as well as a project you are currently working on or would like to develop as a publicly engaged endeavor (should result in the public good you will make progress on during the program).
• Short C.V. or resume (three pages maximum).

Examples of Public Humanities Projects

We define public goods in the humanities broadly: products or services that are provided without profit to all members of a society. Examples might include exhibits, oral histories, archives, audiovisual projects, community engagement projects, K-12 focused projects, public programming endeavors, etc. Projects should be designed primarily to engage one or more specific publics or communities beyond the academy. They should be aimed at reaching beyond your fellow faculty, scholars, and colleagues on campus.

For examples of publicly engaged humanities projects at colleges and universities, see the database sponsored by the National Humanities Alliance, Humanities for All.