Dreaming of Summer

Each summer, the NEH offers tuition-free opportunities for K-12 educators and higher education faculty to study a variety of humanities topics. Stipends of $650 to $3,450 help cover expenses of these one-to-four-week programs. Programs may offer continuing education or graduate credits (often for an additional cost).

Teachers who participate in these institutes (including our own interpretive historian, Melissa Hibbard) rave about the opportunity and talk about how energizing, restorative, and enlightening the experience is.

All applications are due March 5, 2024. These programs are extremely competitive, so if one interests you, don't leave the application until the last minute (especially if the application requires a letter of recommendation.)  *NOTE* Special priority is given to applicants in their first five years of K-12 teaching.

Program Formats

Professional development programs include the following format options:

• Residential: All participants attend for the duration of the project at the host site.
• Virtual: All participants attend for the duration of the project using an online platform. This can include synchronous and asynchronous sessions.
• Combined Format: All participants attend a portion of the project online and a portion of the project at the host site. Online and residential sessions occur at different times, but participants attend the same format simultaneously.

Here are just a few of the many diverse institutes offered this year:

Indian Education For All

• Grand Coulee Dam: The Intersection of Modernity and Indigenous Cultures (Spokane, WA)
• Reclaiming the Narrative: Learning the Truth About Indian Boarding Schools in Arizona (Phoenix, AZ)

Japanese American History

• Heart Mountain, Wyoming and the Japanese American Incarceration (Powell, WY)
• Little Tokyo: How History Shapes a Community Across Generations (Los Angeles, CA)
• Japanese American Post-War Resettlement in Chicago (Chicago, IL and Online)

America 250 (Democracy, Citizenship, and Civil Rights)

• Exploring the First Amendment (Philadelphia, PA)
• Democracy and Education: A View from Detroit (Detroit, MI)
• American Women, American Citizens: 1920-1948 (New York City & Online)
• Freedom Summer: 60 Years Later (Jackson, MS & Online)
• The Problem of the Color Line: Atlanta Landmarks and Civil Rights History (Atlanta, GA)

Community Archives

• The Missing Stories: Reclaiming History through Community Archives (Philadelphia, PA)

And of course there are many other topics represented including LGBTQ+ History, the Gullah-Geechee people, using comics to teach social justice, and three institutes on Shakespeare.

Check out the NEH website and start putting together your application. Learn more about the program and how to apply here. You won't be sorry.