Call for Proposals: The Whiting Foundation Public Engagement Fellowship

The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas is a nominating entity for the Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship. The Fellowship, now entering its third year, celebrates and supports faculty who embrace public engagement as part of the scholarly vocation.

The fellowship supports humanities faculty who wish to undertake or advance public-facing projects by providing a semester of leave and up to $10,000 for project costs. Proposed projects must reach beyond the academic community in an intellectually rigorous way. Nominating institutions may select two faculty members who must be recently tenured (between fall 2012 and fall 2017) or assistant professors with at least two years of service. Potential applicants must reside in traditional humanities departments as defined by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A committee of humanities experts will evaluate proposals and select up to two nominees. Projects will be evaluated on three criteria: intellectual value; potential to engage the intended public; and ability to complete the project successfully.

Proposals are due to Kathryn A. Sloan, Associate Dean, J. William Fulbright College of Art & Sciences (ksloan@uark.edu) by the close of business on Monday, July 3.

Interested humanities specialists should prepare a short proposal that includes:

1) Project precis (up to 250 words): Provide a summary of your proposed project, indicating the subject matter, the form it will take, and your desired outcomes. In addition, indicate the project's current status and, if applicable, describe any work already completed.

2) Intended public and plan for outreach (up to 200 words): Identify the segment of the public you intend to engage through your fellowship project and describe your plan to ensure that you reach them. Be sure to make clear, in language compelling to a non-specialist, why the project will be engaging to the public you have chosen. Bear in mind the difficulty of capturing attention in our media-saturated world; we are looking for evidence not just that your project will be available to a public but that they will be move to participate in and be affected by it.

3) Technical skills (up to 200 words): Any public-facing project draws not only on the intellectual acumen and subject-matter expertise that will be clear from your CV but also on the skills less obviously associated with traditional academic work. Please communicate the technical skills you possess to make your project successful.

4) Use of funds (up to 200 words): Provide a draft budget of how you would spend project cost stipend of up to $10,000. Also list other sources of funding already secured, if applicable.

5) Biographical highlights (up to 200 words): If you have experience relevant to your fellowship project that is not included or fully described on your CV, please elaborate.

Attach a CV and a 2-page bibliography to the proposal.

For more information, see The Whiting Foundation