Grant Programs

The center currently offers support for campus programming and faculty and staff research. Please consider us as you plan your next program or embark on your next project.

Our definition of humanistic work is broad and inclusive. It includes any approach to understanding human ideas, practices, and experiences that focuses on how they shape and are shaped by culture, social structures, and our environment. 

Cantwell-Wegman Grants for Public Engagement

Reflecting our deep belief in and commitment to public engagement, our Cantwell-Wegman Grants for Public Engagement will support publicly-facing humanistic work by faculty and staff. We are open to supporting projects that translate existing scholarly work into mediums or formats accessible to a wide audience as well as new projects meant for a public audience. We are especially interested in proposals that include collaboration with students, with additional funds available for those who use grant money for student wages. In normal circumstances, we offer two Cantwell-Wegman grants of up to $3,000 each per year. We also offer opportunities for project development as you consider your research agenda for the short and long term.

Cantwell-Wegman Grants for Public Engagement Request Form

Small Grants for Project Completion

Sometimes we all just need a small push to help us complete a project. Our Small Grants for Project Completion program can help staff and faculty make that final push. Whether providing funding for a few extra research assistant hours or to help pay for a service you require to complete your project, the Center for the Humanities is committed to supporting your humanistic research. 

Please consider applying today. The Center director will entertain proposals for funding up to $250.

The only “outcome” we expect is for you to share with us whatever comes of the work.

Small Grants for Domestic Collaboration

Our Small Grants for Collaboration program provides funding to make Grinnell a destination for collaborative research. For 2023–24, we will offer three grants of up to $1,500 each for U.S.-based collaborations. Funds can go toward collaborator travel to Grinnell and meals and lodging while they are in Grinnell. Grants come with no expectation of public talk or other engagements during the visit. We will consider proposals for projects at all stages, from beginnings to final steps. The grants are open to faculty and staff.

Small Grants for Collaboration Request Form

Humanities Center Writing Retreat

The Center for the Humanities Writing Retreat program is designed to help you connect, or reconnect, with work that nourishes you. Our goal in creating this program is to support you in carving out time and space to think, to plan, to read, to write, to share, and to be in community around your research.

The writing process includes many stages and kinds of work. At whatever point you find yourself in a project—beginning, middle, or end—this opportunity is for you!

Writing Retreat funding is available to all faculty and staff seeking to connect with scholarly or affinity-based professional communities through research. Visit Writing Retreat Proposal Guidelines for more details, including proposal guidance and submission information.

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