The Whiting Foundation, based in the US, sponsors a grants program with the mission to celebrate and empower humanities faculty who embrace public engagement as part of their scholarly vocation. This year the Foundation has again invited the Renaissance Society of America to nominate up to two public-facing projects for consideration for Whiting Public Engagement Fellowships or Seed Grants. Information about the Public Engagement Program and guidelines for the competition are available here.
Any RSA member who is an early-career, full- or part-time faculty member at a US institution is eligible to apply to be an RSA nominee for a Whiting Public Engagement Fellowship or Seed Grant. The Foundation defines “early career” as having received the doctorate in or since 2008. Information about previous cohorts of Public Engagement grant recipients are available here (Fellows) and here (Seed Grantees).
For this year’s competition, Whiting has specified focus areas within the humanities, namely: history; the study of literature, visual art, music, and other arts; philosophy; and area studies combining these fields, such as classics and African-American studies.
The timeline for the nomination process in spring 2021 is as follows:
· April 7: Optional information session offered online by Whiting at 2:00 p.m. (EDT); register here
· May 5: Optional information session offered online by Whiting at 2:00 p.m. (EDT); register here
· May 12: Deadline to apply to RSA to be considered for nomination
· May 26: RSA notifies nominee(s) who have been chosen
· June 1: RSA sends names of nominee(s) to Whiting
· June 2: Optional information session offered online by Whiting at 2:00 p.m. (EDT) register here
· June 14: RSA nominee(s) submit their first-round applications through the Whiting online portal
To apply for consideration to be an RSA nominee, please follow the Whiting guidelines for proposals and submit your proposal to the RSA’s Executive Director, Carla Zecher (czecher@rsa.org) no later than May 12.
