The National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina has announced a new program that will provide residential fellowships for a dozen scholars from historically Black colleges and universities over the next three years. Four scholars from HBCUs will spend a year at the center where they will pursue research and participate in the center’s intellectual community.
Over the years, more than 1,400 scholars have participated in fellows programs at the National Humanities Center. But very few of these scholars have been on the faculty at HBCUs. Tania Munz, vice president of scholarly programs at the National Humanities Center, explains that “humanities faculty at HBCUs often must negotiate structural challenges that make it more difficult for them to take time away from their home institutions to focus on research. We are hopeful that this new program will make it possible for more scholars from HBCUs to take advantage of the Center’s fellowship program.”
The program was made possible by a $1,147,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Besides providing support for HBCU humanities scholars themselves, the Mellon Foundation grant also provides monies to help defray the cost of hiring replacement faculty at the scholars’ home institutions.
