NEH Professorship

Call for Nominations

It is again time for the College to select the next National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Distinguished Teaching Professorship. The professorship honors a member of Kenyon's humanities faculty who has displayed excellence in teaching and has developed a compelling vision of how the professorship would enhance the study of the humanities at the College. For the purpose of the Professorship, we interpret the "humanities" as broadly as NEH does -- that is, as encompassing not only the disciplines in our own Humanities Division but also all other disciplines that examine historical, literary, and philosophical questions about the human condition. The professorship is funded by the earnings from an endowment created by a grant from the NEH and gifts from friends of Kenyon. Each incumbent holds the position for a term of three years.

The NEH Distinguished Teaching Professorship is currently held by Professor Vernon Schubel, who has initiated a project titled "Integrating the Study of Islamic Civilization into the Liberal Arts Curriculum". Professor Schubel, the sixth NEH Professor at Kenyon, has held the position since 2008. In earlier years, under the rubric of this program, Professor Howard Sacks developed the "Family Farm Project;" Professors Peter Rutkoff and Will Scott developed the "Great Migration Project;" Professor George McCarthy developed a project titled "Democracy and Social Justice: Ancient and Modern;" and Professor Wendy Singer developed the "Human Migration, Diaspora, and Globalism" project. The sixth NEH Professor will be selected for a term of three years beginning in the fall of 2012.

The professorship offers:

1. An annual reduction of one course in teaching load.
   An opportunity to use the time thereby gained for a project that serves education in the humanities at the College and might consist of activities of the following types:
   1. Lecturing on and writing about the humanities.
   2. Organizing symposia or workshops that encourage reflection about the humanities.
   3. Assisting faculty colleagues in their teaching.
   4. Devising innovative new courses.
      (Please note: These examples are illustrative; nominations will be assessed in part by the vision of the project that the candidate presents.)
      
2. An annual salary bonus of $3000 for the term of the professorship.
3. An annual program budget of $3000.

Any full time, tenured member of the Kenyon faculty who teaches a subject that NEH regards as humanistic may be eligible. In the case of ambiguous fields, the provost will make a determination of eligibility after consulting on the matter. Kenyon faculty members may apply for the fellowship or may nominate a colleague to be considered. Nominations, consisting of a brief statement identifying the nominee and her or his faculty rank, are due by Friday, November 18, 2011.

Once I have received the initial applications or nominations, I will invite all qualified candidates to submit the following material on or before December 2, 2011 to Amy Quinlivan in the Office of the Associate Provosts. A complete proposal will include:

• A brief letter expressing interest (supplied by the candidate).
• A one-page abstract (supplied by the candidate) of the project(s) that the candidate will engage in, if chosen.
• A current curriculum vitae.

The candidate shall request and arrange for two supporting letters from faculty colleagues to be sent electronically to Amy Quinlivan in the Office of the Associate Provosts (quinlivana@kenyon.edu) on or before December 2, 2011. Supporting letters should address the teaching qualifications of the candidate and the strengths of the candidate's proposed project.

Kenyon faculty members serve as an advisory committee in the selection process. The committee will choose three finalists from the candidates. For each of these three, the committee will solicit letters from students named by the finalist that speak about the character of the candidate's teaching. The committee will also invite each of the finalists to submit a fuller description of the proposed project and to explore in an interview with the committee the finalist's vision of the humanities and its relation to the proposed project.

Nayef H. Samhat

Provost

_____________________

Professor Vernon Schubel, is the current National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Distinguished Teaching Professor. Schubel's project has been developing a liberal arts model for the integrated study of Islamic civilization.

A Brief History and Description of the NEH Professorship

The NEH professorship honors a member of the College's humanities faculty who has displayed excellence in teaching and has developed a compelling vision of how the professorship would enhance the study of the humanities at Kenyon. (We interpret the "humanities" as broadly as NEH does -- that is, as encompassing not only the disciplines in our own Humanities Division but also all other disciplines that examine historical, literary, and philosophical questions about the human condition.) The NEH professorship is awarded through a competitive process that involves submission of a proposal to a selection committee.

The professorship is funded by the earnings from an endowment created by a grant from NEH and gifts from friends of Kenyon. Each incumbent usually holds the position for a term of three years. The professorship offers:

1. A reduction in teaching commitments. An opportunity to use the time thereby gained for a project that serves education in the humanities at the College and might consist of activities of the following sorts:
   1. Lecturing on and writing about the humanities.
   2. Organizing symposia or workshops that encourage reflection about the humanities.
   3. Assisting faculty colleagues in their teaching.
   4. Devising innovative new courses.
      (Please note: These examples are illustrative; nominations will be assessed in part by the vision of the project that the candidate presents.)
2. An annual salary bonus for the term of the professorship.
3. A modest program budget.

Under the rubric of this program Howard Sacks developed the Family Farm Project; Peter Rutkoff and Will Scott developed the Great Migration Project. George McCarthy's project, entitled Democracy and Social Justice: Ancient and Modern, has resulted in two books that connected directly with courses in which students explored the links between modern social theory and the ideas of the ancients. Wendy Singer's project was entitled "Migration, Diaspora, and Globalism." Vernon Shubel's project (fifthNEH Professor) was entitled "Integrating the Study of Islamic Civilization into the Liberal Arts Curriculum".