The Scholars on Site program seeds research projects that involve collaboration between KU faculty members and community partners. Scholars on Site is one of the new initiatives made possible by the Hall Center's 2011 NEH Challenge Grant.

Advantages of Collaboration with Community Partners: Public humanities programs traditionally explore how the humanities enrich everyday life and engage in reflecting on society's values. Such collaborations expand academic discourse beyond the confines of the classroom and provide an active community forum for exchanges among scholars and citizens that can bring new depth and breadth to humanities scholarship. These collaborations also acknowledge that individuals in community organizations possess expertise that can enrich scholarly research. It is with this understanding that the Hall Center offers support for research-oriented program collaborations between KU humanities faculty and community-based organizations. It is understood that both the academy and the community possess critical, but often different, types of knowledge. The goal of Scholars on Site is to demonstrate the positive impacts that academic knowledge can have on communities, and even more importantly, the influence that community knowledge and experience can have on academic research. The result of such a project is an equal synthesis of academic humanities and public knowledge that strengthens scholarship and communities.

The Scholars on Site Program: The intent is to encourage KU faculty members to work "on-site" with community partners to create public scholarship that will 1) support community priorities and outcomes through the joint conceptualization and execution of humanities research projects; 2) assist community organizations in demonstrating the relevance of the humanities to local communities and, by extension, to the public good; and 3) generate and demonstrate best practices in the area of humanities-community collaborations. A community partner organization can be anywhere in the world and serve any purpose, as long as the research component of the project is within the humanities, humanities-oriented social sciences, or the arts.

Timeline: Applications must be submitted to the Hall Center before 5 p.m. on February 15, 2013. Awards will be made in March. Final reports are due before 5 p.m. on June 1 of the following year. Awards may be used between June 1, 2013 and May 31, 2014.

Amount of Award: The Friends of the Hall Center have provided up to $10,000 to support Scholars on Site projects.

Eligibility: Grant funds will support KU faculty members who wish to establish new collaborations with community organizations or sustain existing ones. These funds may be used to cover a single course release and/or travel expenses to work with non-local organizations.

Grant awards may NOT be used for:
Editions
Inventories of collections
Preparation of textbooks intended for classroom use
Policy studies or educational impact assessments
Research in educational methods or tests

Applicants are strongly encouraged to work on their Scholars on Site proposals in consultation with John Schneiderwind in the Humanities Grant Development Office (HGDO). He will help the team members develop individual work schedules and overall timelines for completing the components of the application, offer preliminary reviews in advance of the application deadline, and provide information on potential external funding sources. Applicants wishing to take advantage of this service must contact John at jschneiderwind@ku.edu or phone 785-864-7833 before 5 p.m. on January 15, 2013.

Application Guidelines: Provide to the Hall Center four (4) copies of the complete application, in the order shown. Materials received after 5 p.m. on the deadline date will not be considered.

• Application Cover Sheet (available to download at top of page)
  
  

• Two-page vitae for each participating KU faculty member, include:
  1. Record of education, including the dates when degrees were awarded
  2. Record of employment
  3. List of most relevant publications
  4. List of grants and fellowships received in the last five years
  
  

• Project description not to exceed 8 double-spaced pages, with one-inch margins and 11-point type.
  • Research and contribution: Give the key idea that motivates the work. Explain the main elements of the project. Discuss the necessity and value of collaboration with a community partner organization to this project. Provide a clear explanation of the overall proposed project and its value to the humanities. Detail the significance and expected outcomes of this collaboration for the community organization. Also, discuss how your method of collaboration with the community organization can serve as a model for defining best practices in humanities/community collaborations.
  • Collaborative process and research team: Detail the collaborative process to be employed in conducting the research. Describe the qualifications, roles, and responsibilities of all research project team members, including community partners, as they relate to the project.
  • Timeline: Describe what the team expects to accomplish during the 12 months of funding. Show how the work planned for this period contributes to the larger project.
  • Sustainability plan: Describe plans for advancing the project following the funding period.
  • Final product(s) and dissemination: Describe the expected short-term outcomes of the project proposed and the anticipated long-term outcome(s) of the larger project of which the work proposed for funding is a part, including likely vehicles for dissemination and anticipated audiences.
    
    

• Two-page bibliography (can be single spaced).
  
  

• Completed budget and justification form (available to download at top of page) detailing how the requested funding will be used to advance the project.
  
  

• Letter of support from the community organization describing how the humanities research will assist the organization's mission and goals.
  
  

• Letter from each participating KU faculty member's department chairs describing how the department evaluates collaborative, public scholarship in tenure and promotion decisions.
  
  

Award criteria: Applications will be reviewed by a committee drawn from humanities faculty and community organization leaders. This interdisciplinary committee will review and recommend recipients according to the following criteria:

• Quality of the conception, definition, organization, and description of the proposed project, including specifically what is proposed to be accomplished during the funding period
• Evidence that the plan for collaborative engagement will lead to creative synergy that will produce novel contributions to the humanities greater in sum than the individuals' contributions
• The likelihood that the project will serve as a model for and significantly advance public scholarship and community-based humanities research collaboration
• Evidence of each collaborator's strong commitment to the continued development of the joint project beyond the end of the funding period

Responsibilities of award winners: Award winners must submit their final reports on the project to the Hall Center Director by 5 p.m. on June 1, 2014, following the end of the funding period. The report must describe the outcomes of the efforts, the current stage of the project, and plans for continuing the project beyond the funding period, including external funding plans.

Direct questions about the Scholars on Site program to Hall Center Director Victor Bailey (4-7822; vbailey@ku.edu) or Associate Director Sally Utech (4-7823; sutech@ku.edu).

Mail or deliver application to:
Hall Center for the Humanities
ATTN: Scholars on Site Program
900 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, KS 66045-7622