Humanities Advisory Committee

The Humanities Advisory Committee (HAC) is comprised of Humanities faculty from Otterbein’s Humanities disciplines: English, History, Religion & Philosophy, Modern Languages, and the History, Theory, and Criticism of the Arts (Art, Music, and Theater). HAC works to promote and support the Humanities at Otterbein by supporting faculty and student scholarship and courses. This includes hosting visiting speakers, funding course enrichment opportunities such as fieldtrips, and producing the student-run Humanities journal, Aegis. HAC oversees the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant awarded to Otterbein University in 1984 – one of only thirteen universities nationwide to receive this award. This endowment funds the aforementioned activities on campus and supports faculty research and professional development through project grants and conference travel awards. To receive funding from HAC, the request must support work in the Humanities, as defined by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Humanities Funding and Award Opportunities for Faculty

  • Co-Sponsored Programs Grant

    With this grant, the Humanities Advisory Committee (HAC) will help support humanities-related events and programs on campus. The HAC will cover up to half of the total budget for the event or program. These funds can, for example, help to pay the costs of bringing a speaker to campus; partially cover the costs of a student publication; assist in covering the costs of a film discussion group or book club.

  • Faculty-Student Enrichment Experiences Grant

    With this grant, the HAC will help support Humanities faculty who wish to provide enrichment experiences for their students. The HAC will provide grant money to support activities in which faculty and students are engaging together in humanities-related activities beyond the Otterbein campus.

  • Humanities Travel Funds

    These funds help support faculty travel to humanities-related conferences. All part-time and full-time faculty members are eligible to apply.

  • Humanities Faculty Project Grants

    These funds help support faculty research in the humanities. Though it is not the only way to use these funds, they have supported faculty travel to archives around the world, and other sorts of humanities projects which have required large cost.

  • Summer Writing Awards

    HAC Summer Writing Awards recognize and reward faculty who are in the process of writing and disseminating scholarship.  The Humanities Advisory Committee Summer Writing Awards recognize Otterbein faculty members who are committed to spending their summers engaged in the writing process.

  • Award opportunities for a nominated student

    The James Martin Humanities Award: A professor in the Department of Foreign Languages at Otterbein from 1991 to 2005, James Martin was a teacher and scholar deeply committed to the importance of the Humanities both in the classroom and on the campus at large.  In recognition of Dr. Martin’s commitment, the Humanities Advisory Council (HAC) annually recognizes a student whose embrace of the interests and values of the Humanities honors Dr. Martin’s memory.

Additional Funding Information for Applicants

Other Humanities Advisory Committee Initiatives

  • Speakers

    The committee hosts speakers who give lectures, visit classrooms, and meet with interested faculty.

  • Partnerships

    The Humanities Advisory Committee partners with other campus groups and committees to support programming related to the humanities. The committee partners with academic departments to help support humanities-related activities such as trips to humanities-related cultural events or off-campus lectures for faculty and students.

  • Aegis Humanities Journal

    Aegis publishes scholarly student essays and book reviews that advance the presence and values of the humanities on campus and beyond.

What are the Humanities?

The Definition of the Humanities by The National Endowment for the Humanities:

In the act that established the National Endowment for the Humanities, the term humanities includes, but is not limited to, study of the following disciplines: history; philosophy; languages; linguistics; literature; archeology; jurisprudence; the history, theory, and criticism of the arts; ethics; comparative religion; and those aspects of the social sciences that employ historical or philosophical approaches.

Work in the creative or performing arts – such as the writing of fiction or poetry, painting, sculpture, musical composition or performance, acting, directing, and dance – is not eligible for support by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Those interested in support in these areas should write or call the National Endowment for the Arts. Critical, historical, and theoretical studies of the arts, however, are eligible for NEH support.

Studies in the social sciences that are historical or philosophical in approach or that involve questions of interpretation or criticism traditionally in the humanities are also eligible for NEH support, as are studies that use the disciplines of the humanities to interpret, analyze, or assess science and technology.

In the act that established the National Endowment for the Humanities, the term humanities included, but is not limited to, study of the following disciplines: history; philosophy; languages; linguistics; literature; archeology; jurisprudence; the history, theory, and criticism of the arts; ethics; comparative religion; and those aspects of the social sciences that employ historical or philosophical approaches.