September 15, 2019

Fall CFP for Spring 2020 and 2020-21 funding.

This application period has closed. The proposal deadline was October 15, 2019.

(For a printer-friendly version of this CFP, click here.)

About the Corridor: The CNY Humanities Corridor is a dynamic consortium linking over 10 universities and colleges across the region, supported from an award by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Boundary-crossing and intellectual community are fundamental to our network, which fosters innovative collaborative research, teaching, and programming.

About Working Groups + Research Clusters: Our expansive range of activities is driven by Working Groups of researchers—and these groups are situated within inclusive, interdisciplinary Research Clusters.

Working Groups are comprised of scholars collaborating on a particular issue/project. They have Organizers, who form groups and coordinate activities, as well as Members. Activities take many forms and foci vary, from deep dives into an aspect of a discipline, interdisciplinary explorations across several fields, broad-based reflections on the future of the humanities, or explorations of the humanities’ role in addressing key social issues. Proposals for new groups are always welcome!

Research Clusters are broad areas of inquiry within which groups of scholars collaborate. Clusters help track the Corridor’s diverse activities and map its many networks across the region.

Who Can Apply?  We invite proposals for activities by new and existing Working Groups from faculty and academic staff at Syracuse University, Cornell University, the University of Rochester, the schools of the New York Six Liberal Arts Consortium, Le Moyne College, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Criteria

  • Every Working Group should meaningfully include faculty members or academic staff members from Corridor institutions that are in at least two different locales/cities;
  • Every Working Group must have, as one of its Organizers, a faculty member or academic staff member from one of the primary/endowed Corridor institutions (Syracuse University, Cornell University, or the University of Rochester);
  • For each Working Group activity, a Working Group Organizer from that institution must be involved in organizing that activity. (e.g., To host an activity at Colgate, a Working Group Organizer from Colgate must be designated and involved.)

Proposal Categories

  • New Working Groups: Funding for new working groups is up to $1500. Once a group is formed, it may submit proposals as a Continuing Working Group in categories 2 through 4, below.
  • Continuing Working Groups: Ongoing working groups with activities taking place in more than one Corridor location during the academic year may apply for up to $5000 per academic year (up to $2500 per event).
  • Continuing Working Groups (Multi-Year): Established groups that have been active and engaged for at least two consecutive years may submit proposals for a multi-year period (up to three years). Proposals must include a defined rationale/vision for a multi-year award and delineate what they hope to accomplish over a multi-year period.
  • Continuing Working Groups, Signature Event: Established working groups may submit proposals to support a high-profile event needing more funding (capped at $10,000). Signature Events require a public component and substantive involvement from 3 or more Corridor institutions. Event formats vary (e.g., conferences, large-scale exhibitions, and/or performances involving Corridor participants). Funding availability varies annually based on overall proposal submissions to the Corridor.

Deadlines: The Corridor has two annual deadlines (Fall and Spring) to submit proposals.

  • October 15, 2019 is the current proposal deadline for activities occurring in Spring 2020 and/or for activities during the 2020-21 academic year.
  • March 15, 2020 will be the Spring deadline to propose activities occurring in 2020-21. (Note the new, earlier spring proposal deadline.)

Key Information for Preparing Your Proposal

  • Intra-Corridor Travel Fund: To support collaboration, funds are available to bring together Working Group members from different campuses, and for faculty and graduate students to attend Corridor activities (workshops, symposia, lectures, etc.) at other Corridor institutions. The new proposal form asks for these travel estimates separately from the invited speaker budget.
  • Host Campus & Semester: Since Corridor funding stems from multiple endowments, our overall budget is tied to specific funding levels by host campus and semester. When preparing your application, please consider carefully your proposed host campus and academic term, as they cannot be easily changed after awards are made.
  • Honoraria: Corridor funding cannot be used to pay honoraria to individuals from Corridor institutions. Please keep this in mind when preparing your budget outlines.
  • Proposals can be shared or edited after submission and up until the deadline.

Questions? If you have questions about crafting strong proposals, creating new Working Groups, selecting Research Clusters, or to learn how your ideas could fit Corridor frameworks, please contact the CNY Humanities Corridor Program Coordinator, Aimee Germain: 315.443.8685; aagermai@syr.edu.

What Are Some Different Types of Working Group Activities? The examples below offer a reference to help generate ideas about what’s possible for working group activities (they are neither exhaustive nor prescriptive). Current activities across the Corridor can be found here. We invite you to be creative in your proposals and to reach out to us with any questions.

  • Writing Retreat: A weekend-long retreat for participants from four corridor institutions to develop and share feedback on current research and writing projects, facilitated by an invited scholar in the field. Retreat included two workshops on the writing process led by the invited scholar, a series of feedback sessions, and individual writing time. Faculty participants spanned disciplinary backgrounds. (MMH22)
  • Lecture with Invited Scholar: A senior scholar gave a talk on the intersection of cultural politics and digital humanities, tracing—among other things—the publication history of a canonical women of color feminist anthology through its unofficial digital edition that first circulated on the social blogging platform Tumblr and other informal social networks. (DH3)
  • Brainstorming Meeting: A new group convened around shared interests in digital communication. Over the course of a year, they met to explore/summarize digital communication genres and scholarship, discuss ideas for autonomous activities for the next semester, and propose/organize events for the next academic year. (AM1)
  • Poetry Reading, Roundtable, Class Visits: Internationally renowned poets visited two campuses as part of a group’s research project on classical influence in contemporary poetry. There was a public roundtable with local scholars and visiting poets, class visits, and a poetry recital. (LLC13)
  • Teaching Exchange: A group organized a teaching exchange of guest lectures across three campuses. These guest lectures were either from Corridor institutions or invited guests. (MMH17)
  • Lecture, Seminar, Class Visits on Multiple Campuses: An international scholar gave a public lecture on one campus, followed by a class visit and working group seminar on a second campus. (PHI6)
  • Regional Community Engagement: An ad hoc group convened to improve communication among museums and cultural centers dedicated to some aspect of Haudenosaunee culture and education. (LLC19)