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Proposal Guidelines for All Applicants

Defining “Working Groups”

  • Organizers: Each Working Group needs faculty/staff Organizers from at least two Corridor institutions.
    • At least one must be from Cornell, Syracuse, or University of Rochester;
    • Organizers cannot all be from one Corridor locale (i.e., all Syracuse-based or all Rochester-based).
    • Graduate students and faculty/staff from non-Corridor institutions cannot be Organizers but may participate in Working Group activities.
  • Proposing and Hosting Activities: Organizers collaborate to propose, plan, and host activities that contribute to the humanities. Every activity needs to identify a host campus and a designated Organizer from that host campus (even if remote format). Your Working Group funding is tied to the host campus specified for each awarded activity.
  • Each New Group selects a Research Cluster for their work: Archives & Media (AM); Digital Humanities (DH); Historical Studies (HS); Humanities Futures (HF); Inequality & Social Difference (ISD); Linguistics, Semiotics, and the Study of Language (LIN); Literature, Language & Culture (LLC); Musicology / Performance Studies (MP); Philosophy/Critical Theory (PCT); or Visual Arts & Culture (VAC).

Writing a Strong Proposal

Corridor funding is awarded to those who write proposals with strong rationales, clear tie-ins to the humanities, detailed budgets, and meaningful collaboration. Details matter.

  • Be succinct, but provide context about what you’re aiming to do. What are you trying to accomplish and what are your plans and expectations?
  • Specify your group's contribution to the humanities. Explain how your group's collaborative work links to the humanities.
  • Go easy on yourselves. Recognize that collaborative work is an investment of organizational labor and time, so think about what activities will best feed your research needs and intellectual community. Consider prioritizing "quality" over "quantity" in what is most useful to you as scholars.
  • Provide a descriptive title for each proposed activity as opposed to something overly generic. "Environmental Humanities in the Classroom" is better than "Fall Lecture."
  • Outline your planned activities in some detail, including a brief description to help the review committee understand your vision.
    • If you plan to invite speakers, please list their names, titles, affiliations, and brief bios.
    • If you haven't yet identified a specific speaker, indicate who you might invite and why.
    • If your activity fits a specific purpose, identify it.
    • If your group incorporates mentoring of any kind, mention it.
  • Carefully select the host campus and semester
    • The host campus is where the Corridor funding will be spent, even if the proposed activity is online.
    • Because our funding stems from different sources, awards are tied to these sources via the host campus and semester specified in your proposal. Changing a host campus = changing the funding source. Such requests, once awards are made, may not be possible, as money cannot “move” between our endowments.
  • Follow our budget guidance below as you develop your ideas and when submitting your proposal.
  • If you are applying for Signature Event funding, review the full SE eligibility requirements.
  • Review models of working group activities and/or our calendar for guidance or inspiration.
  • Preview the CFP questions (from AY26) as a group before answering the proposal form. This will allow for a smoother application process. Upon proposal completion, you'll receive an emailed copy (as will all listed collaborators). The confirmation email to the proposal initiator will include a link to revise and resubmit your proposal up until the deadline.
  • Review a sample proposal (from AY26) as a guide.

Preparing a Budget

The budget total in your application should be the total of the budget line items listed in your proposal. Your activity may require additional funds from elsewhere to support it, but please only include the funds you are requesting from the Corridor.

Funding Categories

  • Fees/Honoraria
    • For speakers, facilitators, performers, artists, etc. from non-Corridor Institutions. (Individuals from Corridor institutions cannot receive honoraria from our funds.)
  • Travel & Lodging
    • Air/Ground Travel for speakers, performers, artists, etc. from non-Corridor Institutions.
    • Hotel/Accommodations for speakers, performers, artists from non-Corridor Institutions.
    • Off-campus retreats: Corridor groups wishing to host an off-site retreat involving an overnight stay must include lodging costs in their working group proposal as part of their budget outline. Retreat lodging for an entire group is not eligible for reimbursement through the intra-Corridor travel supplement, as lodging, in this instance, is central to the activity itself.
  • Group Meals and Receptions
    • Food fosters community!
  • Scholarly Materials tied to proposed Working Group collaborations (e.g., books, films, musical scores)
  • IT/Tech Support (e.g., webinar license fees, recording/sound technicians, videography, etc.)
    • Technology support varies widely across Corridor institutions. Consider hosting your activity at a campus that offers robust tech support/staffing for the specific type of event you are trying to host.
  • Accessibility Funding
    • To support inclusive format activities, complete the Accessibility Funding section on the proposal form if you need real-time captioning, ASL, or other accommodations. These funds are in addition to your maximum Working Group award, but these funds will be included in any award.
  • Intra-Corridor Travel Supplement
    • Reimbursements help convene Working Group members from Corridor campuses and help faculty, academic staff, and graduate students attend Corridor activities. These funds are in addition to the maximum Working Group award and should not be included in your proposal budget.

Non-Allowable Expenses for Working Groups

The Corridor is funded through many different sources, and these funds are restricted. Each Corridor institution has its own financial policies and processes. To avoid confusion across campuses, the Corridor cannot award funds for the following purposes:

  • Payments to students
    • Direct payments to students are not allowed using Corridor funds; this includes both undergraduate and graduate students. Potential implications include impacts on need-based student financial aid and restrictions on international student compensation. The mechanisms and policies for hiring students also differ across our institutions, and a majority of our Corridor institutions do not have graduate students.
  • Payments to individuals within the Corridor
    • We can't pay ourselves or each other. Corridor funds cannot be used to pay honoraria, commissions, or stipends to employees at the 11 Corridor institutions.
  • Websites
    • Corridor funds cannot be used to create or maintain websites for Corridor events or groups. Every Corridor Working Group has its own web page, and we can help you add more content, images, or video if you wish. Groups are also encouraged to use their existing institutional resources wherever possible.
  • Equipment
    • Corridor funds cannot be used to purchase equipment. Equipment purchasing policies differ across our 11 institutions, and equipment often becomes property of the purchasing campus, not of the individual or group. Equipment includes, for example, virtual reality headsets, video recording devices, and computers.

Rationale Behind the Review Process

Proposals are reviewed based on the criteria mentioned above, but we often receive questions about how that plays out during the review process.

  • A Working Group is the heart of the endeavor with grassroots origins. Building both community and humanities capacity within the consortium, via reciprocal collaboration, are the crucial components. Corridor funding goes toward activities that are integral to the community people are trying to build.
  • Out of the Working Group’s shared vision and partnership should emerge activities, conferences, and symposia. It should not work the other way around. The Corridor is not intended as a co-sponsorship mechanism for an otherwise occurring activity.
  • Our goal is to seed collaboration, not to fund one-off events or existing professional conferences. (That said, many Corridor-funded groups do seek co-sponsorship funding from elsewhere, and we encourage that engagement.)
  • While funding repeated events is not our goal, we do fund some recurring activities that demonstrate collaboration and reciprocity and have a rationale for the repetition; that is, showing impacts/outcomes that are beyond individual results [e.g., curricular, co-authored works, mentoring circles, expanded archives/data sets, etc.]
  • The Corridor needs to be foregrounded in the work the Working Group is doing. How is your group building capacity within the Corridor? Our funds are aimed at supporting collaborations that build out capacity at and across our institutions.
  • Host campus rotation is about finances, labor, and demonstrating shared commitment. We see host campus rotation from year-to-year as key to shifting the dynamics of the group and ensuring collaboration. It allows for intellectual engagement opportunities spread across varying campuses. This rotation also ensures that no single Corridor funding source is bearing the entirety of any single Working Group’s activities.
  • In a previous proposal, did you receive feedback in your award letter? If so, tell us how you addressed that feedback, incorporated it into your earlier activities, or adjusted your plans for next year.