Application Suggestions

Please read the “Dear Colleague Letter” from the project director posted on this website as it contains detailed information about the topic under study; project requirements and expectations of the participants; the academic and institutional setting; and specific provisions for lodging, subsistence, and extracurricular activities.  All application materials must be sent to the project director at the address listed below.  Application materials directly sent to the Endowment will not be reviewed.

Application Checklist

A completed application consists of three copies of the following collated items:

  • the completed application cover sheet (obtained from registering with NEH, see link below);
  • a résumé or brief biography (limit: 4 pages, typed, double-spaced) detailing your educational qualifications and professional experience and providing names and contact information for two references;
  • an application essay as outlined below (limit: 4 pages, typed, double-spaced).

Your Application Cover Sheet

The application cover sheet must be filled out online at this address:

https://securegrants.neh.gov/education/participants/

Please fill it out online as directed by the prompts.  When you are finished, be sure to click the “submit” button. Then, print out the cover sheet, photocopy it, and add it to your application package.  At this point you will be asked if you want to fill out a cover sheet for another project.  If you do, follow the prompts and select another project and then print out the cover sheet for that project as well. Note that filling out a cover sheet is not the same as applying, you still need to mail a full application to Stephanie Wood, Director, 2085 University Street, Eugene, Oregon 97403.  There is no penalty for changing your mind if you fill out a cover sheet for more than one project and then only apply to one.  Also, it’s up to you if you want to apply to more than one Institute or an Institute and a Seminar.  But you are limited to two applications in a given year, and if accepted to both, you will need to choose which one you will attend (participating in only one per summer).  It also happens that you fill out the online form for the cover sheet and forget to print it.  If that happens to you, you can go back and fill out the form again and PRINT IT to include it with your application that will be mailed to Stephanie Wood.

Your Résumé

Please include a résumé or brief biography detailing your educational qualifications and professional experience. This may be from 1 to 4 pages in length, typed, double-spaced. The two referees you name here may be from inside or outside your home institution.  They should be familiar with your professional accomplishments or promise, teaching and/or research interests, and ability to contribute to and benefit from participation in the seminar or institute.  Referees should be notified that their names and contact information are being provided with your application.  You might give them the director’s description of the seminar or institute and your application essay. Applicants who are current graduate students can provide names of current/recent professors or advisors.

Your Application Essay

The application essay should be no more than 4 double‑spaced pages.  It should address reasons for applying; the applicant’s interest, especially academic but also personal, in the subjects to be studied (please refer to the syllabus and weekly themes and questions); qualifications and experiences that equip the applicant to do the work of the seminar or institute and to make a contribution to a learning community; a statement of what the applicant hopes to accomplish by participating (ideas for a curricular unit, perhaps, and plans for its implementation and dissemination); and the relation of the project to the applicant’s professional responsibilities. Again, this is very important: please review the syllabus provided on our website and look for specific connections you might mention in your essay. We will be looking for some evidence that you have really given our particular Institute goals and design your careful consideration and have concluded that this has the potential for being a very good match with your own goals. If you wish to look at the required readings and reflect on them, write the Director for the password.  Finally, review the comments on our eligibility page if you wish to make the strongest possible application.

A full application consists of the items listed above (cover sheet, résumé, and essay), in triplicate, as sent to the project director.

Stephanie Wood, Director
2085 University Street
Eugene,  OR 97403

This material must be postmarked no later than March 2, 2015.

Your hard copy application must be postmarked no later than March 2, 2015. If postmarked later than March 2nd, it will not be considered.  It is not recommended that you send your application return-receipt-requested or registered.  This just adds a layer of difficulty to our obtaining your application, sometimes causing a delay.  We will acknowledge receipt of your application within a week of its arrival, but more often we will acknowledge it the same day we receive it.

The top 30, successful applicants will hear from the Director by March 30, 2015, and will be prepared to accept or decline the offer to participate immediately. We will maintain an alternate list in case any in the top 30 have decided to withdraw, and they will also hear on this date. We will want to have a firm list as early as possible, so that we can work with alternates right away (if necessary) and the 30 confirmed participants will be able to move quickly to reserve their lodging. (July is a very popular time to be in Oaxaca, and we have to nail down your apartments and rooms as soon as we can.)  Those who are not in the top 30 or place on the waitlist will also hear from us on March 30th.

Questions?

Please email us if you have any questions. Stephanie Wood can be reached by email at swood (at) uoregon (dot) edu.