Date posted: March 3, 2008
Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Questions? Contact NEH's Division of Research Programs at 202-606-8200 or FacultyResearch@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930. Faculty Research Awards support individuals pursuing advanced research that is of value to scholars and general audiences in the humanities. Recipients usually produce articles, monographs, books, digital materials, archaeological site reports, translations, editions, and other scholarly tools. Faculty Research Awards support research in the humanities by faculty members at Historically Black and Tribal Colleges and Universities and Institutions with High Hispanic Enrollment. The awards support the equivalent of six to twelve months of full-time work. Faculty Research Awards may not be used for:
Providing Access to Grant Products As a taxpayer-supported federal agency, the NEH endeavors to make the products of its awards available to the broadest possible audience. Our goal is for scholars, educators, students, and the American public to have ready and easy access to the wide range of NEH grant products. For the Faculty Research Awards program, such products may include digital tools, Web sites, and the like. For projects that lead to the development of Web sites, all other considerations being equal, the NEH gives preference to those that provide free access to the public. Detailed guidance on access and dissemination matters can be found in Section V., Final Product and Dissemination, below. The Endowment currently sponsors one agency-wide program, We the People, and two special initiatives, Rediscovering Afghanistan and the Digital Humanities Initiative. Below is information on each. The NEH encourages applications in these three special areas of interest. Proposals will be evaluated through NEH's established review process and will not receive special consideration.
Faculty Research Awards cover periods lasting from six to twelve months at a stipend of $4,200 per month. The maximum stipend is $50,400 for a twelve-month award period. Applicants should request award periods that suit their schedules and the needs of their projects. A request for an award period shorter than twelve months will not improve one's chances of receiving a fellowship. Recipients may begin their awards as early as January 1, 2009, and as late as July 1, 2010. The award period may be full- or part-time or a combination. The award period need not be continuous. For example, an award recipient may split the tenure into two full-time periods of three months each (the equivalent of six months) or hold the award half-time over a continuous period for two years (the equivalent of twelve months). Such arrangements should be stated in the application. Those with questions are encouraged to contact the Faculty Research Awards staff at FacultyResearch@neh.gov. Cost SharingNEH Faculty Research Awards do not require cost sharing. Applicants to the Faculty Research Awards program must hold a full-time tenured, tenure-track, or annual-contract faculty position at Historically Black or Tribal Colleges and Universities or Institutions with High Hispanic Enrollment. If you are unsure of your institution's status please check the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights Web site. Applicants usually have completed their formal education, but the competition also is open to Ph.D. students who have finished all their coursework and are working on their dissertations. In such cases, applicants must hold a full-time tenured, tenure-track, or annual-contract faculty position at Historically Black or Tribal Colleges and Universities or Institutions with High Hispanic Enrollment. The following eligibility requirements also apply to Faculty Research Awards: Citizenship All U.S. citizens, whether they reside inside or outside the United States, are eligible to apply. Foreign nationals who have been living in the United States or its jurisdictions for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline are also eligible. Projects Previously Supported by NEH You may apply for funding for a project that has previously received NEH Faculty Research Award or NEH Fellowships support. NEH will ask evaluators to review the accomplishments from the prior award and determine if the project warrants additional support. Concurrent Grants from Other Organizations Recipients may simultaneously hold non-NEH-administered fellowships or grants in support of the same project during their award period, including sabbaticals and grants from their own institutions. Multiple Applications Faculty Research Awards applicants may not compete concurrently for NEH Fellowships. Applicants may compete concurrently in the following programs for individuals in a given year:
Applicants successful in more than one of the NEH-administered programs listed above may hold only ONE award for any given calendar or federal fiscal year. Ineligible applications will not be reviewed. Applications must be submitted between March 3 and the May 1, 2008, deadline. Application Advice: Prior to beginning, applicants should review the Evaluation Criteria in Section VI and consult the Frequently Asked Questions. Because of the large number of applications, the NEH staff is not able to read and comment on draft proposals. However, potential applicants may discuss with the staff specific concerns or questions that arise during the preparation of their proposals. Contact NEH's Division of Research Programs at 202-606-8200 or FacultyResearch@neh.gov. Hearing-impaired applicants can contact NEH via TDD at 1-866-372-2930. Once an application has been submitted, the staff will not comment on it except with respect to issues of completeness and eligibility. NEH does not accept applications by e-mail or fax. You will prepare your application for submission via Grants.gov just as you would a paper application. In addition to forms described in Step 4 below, your application should consist of the following five parts:
All applicants for Faculty Research Awards must submit their proposals through Grants.gov, the central federal government portal for all grant applications. To do so, applicants must have a computer with Internet access and the current version of the free Adobe Reader. (Please note: Grants.gov no longer requires use of the PureEdge Viewer.) The latest version of Adobe Reader, which is designed to function with PCs and Macintosh computers using a variety of popular operating systems, is available at no charge from the Adobe Web site (www.adobe.com). Applicants have reported greatest success using PCs running Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape as their Internet browsers. What follows is a step-by-step guide for submitting your Faculty Research Awards application through Grants.gov.
All applicants for NEH Faculty Research Awards must register with Grants.gov as individual users. If you have already registered as an individual and you have verified that your registration is still valid, you may skip this step. If not, follow the instructions below. We strongly recommend you complete or verify your registration at least one week before the application deadline, as it takes time for your registration to be processed. If you have problems registering with Grants.gov, contact the Grants.gov help desk at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov. The registration process has two components. The first is to register with the Grants.gov Credential Service Provider; the second is to record your username and password with Grants.gov. To register with the Credential Service Provider (i.e. obtain a username and password), go to: apply07.grants.gov/apply/IndCPRegister and enter this Funding Opportunity Number:
Click the button that says "Register." You are automatically redirected to the site of ORC, Inc., the Credential Service Provider for Grants.gov. Click on "Get Your Credential Here" and complete the form provided. Submit the form and verify your information. You must create a username and password that will be required when you submit your application to NEH. Your password must contain at least one uppercase letter, one special character (such as # or %), and one number. To record your new username and password with Grants.gov, go to: apply07.grants.gov/apply/IndGGRegister Enter your username and password to get to the User Profile page. Select "Individual." Please note that Grants.gov will automatically include a DUNS number for you. Fill in your name, e-mail, phone, and title, and select "Submit." You will receive on-screen confirmation that you have registered successfully. You may now use your username and password to submit your application.
To fill out your application, you will need to download and install the current version of the free Adobe Reader. To download Adobe Reader or update the Reader already installed on your computer, go to www.adobe.com. Click on "Get Adobe Reader" and then "Download Now." Once installed, this software will allow you to view and fill out Grants.Gov application packages for any federal agency.
You can save your work by clicking the "Save" button at the top of your screen. Tip: If you choose to save your application package before you have completed it, you will receive a message indicating that your application is not valid. Click "OK" to save your work and complete the package another time. The application package contains two forms that you must complete in order to submit our application:
In addition, you need to download the NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals form. This form—in Portable Document Format (.pdf)—can be found here.
A complete application includes the following items:
How to Fill Out the SF424-Individual Form Select the SF-424-Individual Form from the Mandatory Documents field of the application package. Move it to the Mandatory Documents for Submission field using the right-facing arrow button. Click the "Open Forms" button to begin using the form. Provide the following information:
How to Fill Out the NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals Form This form can be downloaded and saved to your computer in Portable Document Format (.pdf) here. Open the form and provide the following information:
How to Use the NEH Attachments Form The component parts of your application must be attached to the NEH Attachments Form in Portable Document Format (.pdf). NEH cannot accept attachments in their original word processing, graphic, or spreadsheet formats. If you do not have access to software to convert your files into PDFs, there are many low-cost and free software packages available. To learn more, go to www.neh.gov/grants/grantsgov/pdf.html. When you open the NEH Attachments Form, you will find 15 attachment buttons labeled "Attachment 1" through "Attachment 15." By clicking on a button, you will be able to choose the file from your computer that you wish to attach. You must name and attach your files in the proper order so that we can identify them. Please attach the proper file to the proper button as listed below: ATTACHMENT 1 : To this button, please attach the completed NEH Supplemental Information for Individuals form. Please name the file "NEHinfo.pdf". ATTACHMENT 2: To this button, please attach your project narrative. Please name the file "narrative.pdf". ATTACHMENT 3: To this button, please attach your bibliography. Please name the file "bibliography.pdf". ATTACHMENT 4: To this button, please attach your résumé. Please name the file "resume.pdf". ATTACHMENT 5: To this button, please attach your appendix. Appropriate appendices include translation samples or graphics files. Please name the file "appendix.pdf". No other attachments should be included. Applications with additional attachments or with attachments that exceed the length limitations will not be entered into the competition.
When you have completed the SF424-Individual Form and attached the component parts of your application to the Attachments form, save your work to activate the "Submit" button. You are now ready to upload your application package to NEH via Grants.gov. To submit your application, click the "Submit" button. Your computer will automatically connect to the Internet, and you will be asked to supply your username and password (see Step 1 above). Once you have successfully entered your username and password, electronically sign and submit your application. When you click the "Sign and Submit Application" button, your application package will be uploaded to Grants.gov. Please note: Past applicants have reported slower response times from Grants.gov during the high usage periods between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern Time. They have also reported difficulties using non-supported browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox or Safari. Grants.gov is designed for optimal performance using a PC with MS Internet Explorer or Netscape browsers. After the upload is complete, a confirmation page, which includes a Grants.gov tracking number, will indicate that you have submitted your application to Grants.gov. Please print this page for your records. You will also receive a confirmation e-mail. NEH suggests that you submit your application no later than 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on the day of the deadline. That way, should you encounter technical problems, you will still have time to contact the Grants.gov help desk for support. The Grants.gov help desk is open Monday to Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 1-800-518-4726. You can also send an e-mail to support@grants.gov.
Evaluators are asked to apply the following five criteria when judging the quality of applications.
Faculty Research Awards support projects at any stage of development. The Endowment expects grantees to provide broad access to all grant products, insofar as the conditions of the materials and intellectual property rights allow. For projects that lead to the development of Web sites, all other considerations being equal, the NEH gives preference to those that provide free access to the public. Review and Selection Process Knowledgeable persons outside NEH will read each application and advise the agency about its merits. The Endowment's staff comments on matters of fact or on significant issues that otherwise would be missing from these reviews, then makes recommendations to the National Council on the Humanities. The National Council meets at various times during the year to advise the NEH chairman on grants. The chairman takes into account the advice provided by the review process and, by law, makes all funding decisions. Award notices Applicants will be notified of the result of their application by letter or e-mail in early December 2008. They may obtain reasons for the funding decision by sending a letter or e-mail to NEH, Division of Research Programs, 1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Room 318, Washington, D.C. 20506 or FacultyResearch@neh.gov. Responsibilities of Award Recipients Before submitting an application, applicants should review NEH's Research Misconduct Policy. Award Conditions The requirements for awards are contained in the General Information on NEH Faculty Research Awards and any specific terms and conditions contained in the award document. Reporting Requirements A final performance report will be due within 90 days after the completion date of the award period. The final report form is available online and electronic submission is required via NEH's Web site. If you have questions about the program, contact:
Division of Research If you need help using Grants.gov, contact: Grants.gov help desk: support@grants.govGrant.gov support line: 1-800-518-GRANTS (4726) Grants.gov customer support tutorials and manuals: www.grants.gov/applicants/app_help_reso.jsp. Privacy Policy Information in these guidelines is solicited under the authority of the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act of 1965, as amended, 20 U.S.C. 956. The principal purpose for which the information will be used is to process the grant application. The information may also be used for statistical research, analysis of trends, and Congressional oversight. Failure to provide the information may result in the delay or rejection of the application. Application Completion Time The Office of Management and Budget requires federal agencies to supply information on the time needed to complete forms and also to invite comments on the paperwork burden. NEH estimates the average time to complete this application is fifteen hours per response. This estimate includes time for reviewing instructions, researching, gathering, and maintaining the information needed, and completing and reviewing the application. Please send any comments regarding the estimated completion time or any other aspect of this application, including suggestions for reducing the completion time, to the Office of Publications, National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. 20506; and to the Office of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (3136-0134), Washington, D.C. 20503. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB number.
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