Lehigh University’s Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative offers funding to initiate, continue, or nurture partnerships between Lehigh and its local community, including, but not limited to, community organizations, historical societies, local arts organizations, government, business, education, and media. Collaborations could be formed to support the creation of digital archives, oral histories, documentary films, digital maps, historical surveys, or creative works. Priority will be given to proposals for partnerships that involve both community engagement and the use of digital or documentary methods, but proposals for partnerships that focus either on community engagement or the use of digital or documentary methods are also welcomed for consideration. Proposals focusing on South Bethlehem will be given preference, but proposals for work with organizations throughout the Lehigh Valley and eastern Pennsylvania or other related communities may be considered. For examples of community partnership projects that meet the goals of the MDHI see Project Models.
Grant funds may be used for travel, research supplies, stipends including stipends for students who will work on the project, and to pay fees invoiced by the community partner. Grant funds may not be used to pay for food, alcohol, venue rental or undergraduate travel.
Eligibility
- Lehigh faculty (including Professors of Practice and adjuncts), staff, visiting professors, graduate students, predoctoral fellows and post-doctoral fellows
- Lehigh staff should consult their supervisors about whether their proposed project falls under their existing job responsibilities. If it does not, the project may need to be undertaken in addition to and outside of your regular working hours. Staff are eligible in both circumstances.
Application Process
A designated amount of funds will be available each fiscal year (July 1-June 30) from 2015 through 2018. Proposals for spring and summer projects, and 2017-2018 academic year projects should be submitted online by February 27, 2017.
Application due dates for funding during subsequent years will be announced at a later date. Proposals will be reviewed by a subcommittee of the MDHI steering committee. It is expected that budget requests will range between $3,000 and $10,000.
To apply, submit an online application with a narrative proposal of at least one page that includes:
- Names of grant applicant(s)
- Project title
- A project proposal (750 words or less)
- A statement of project relevance to MDHI goals (500 words or less)
- A one-sentence description of your project outcome (i.e. a website, a documentary film, oral history interviews, etc.)
- A listing of expected community collaborators (if applicable)
- A specification of what, if any, technological and personnel support is requested.
- Please be specific as to who will build or support all aspects of any project you are creating. If you plan to use Lehigh personnel to build your project or for techincal support, please contact Julia Maserjian of LTS (jcm5@lehigh.edu) prior to submitting your application to discuss the technical aspects of your project and to inquire as to whether you will need LTS or IMRC support, and indicate this in your application.
- List equipment (software and hardware) needed for your project, and state whether this equipment is already available for use on campus.
- A budget
- Your budget should list any additional funding sources relevant to the project (Humanities Center grants, Mountaintop grants, Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative course development grants, etc.).
- If significant LTS/DMS/CITL support is involved in the technical development of your project, we ask that you include in your budget an LTS equipment and support fee of $500-$1000, depending on the level of support required for the project. Consultation with Julia Maserjian (jcm5@lehigh.edu) will determine the level of support anticipated for your project.
- Remember that MDHI funds cannot be used to pay for food, space rental or undergraduate travel.
- Clearly note the hourly wage for anyone compensated through this grant.
- Undergraduate students may be eligible to use the grant for stipend support if the grant work is above and beyond work being submitted for course credit. Additional eligibility requirements apply, including considerations for the total amount of paid work you are doing on campus. Students should budget $15 an hour for their stipend.
- A timetable for when you will start and complete your project
- A plan for how to share what you learn with some segment of the larger campus community (e.g. through a presentation at the annual Symposium on Teaching and Learning at Lehigh, an on-campus workshop organized and promoted by the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning and/or the Center for Community Engagement, a presentation to a department or interdisciplinary program, or some other means).
Grant Finalists
Grant finalists will be required to attend a meeting to discuss final details of their project and to sort out any issues regarding payment and reimbursement processes, technology questions, IRB, Intellectual Property, legal issues, and any other outstanding issues that are not fully resolved in the application. After this meeting, you will need to resolve outstanding issues with your grant before being awarded a grant and receiving an award letter.
Grant Recipients
Grant recipients will be notified of their acceptance via email and will receive a formal award letter and intellectual property agreement. These two documents must be signed and returned before expenses can be incurred or reimbursed from the grant.
Grant Requirements
- If you anticipate any changes to your proposal or budget, you must submit your updated proposal and budget via email to Amanda Webb (inmdhig@lehigh.edu) as soon as possible for approval prior to spending the awarded funds.
- All funds must be spent according to Lehigh’s expense policy.
- Approved websites: Websites should be built on Lehigh servers where possible. We highly encourage applicants who plan to build websites as a part of their projects to utilize one of the MDHI approved website platforms through Lehigh University:
- LTS or IMRC supported site, such as Drupal
- Scalar through Lehigh
- Lehigh's Wordpress instance
- OMEKA through Lehigh
- GoogleSites using your Lehigh credentials
- If it is necessary for you to build a website on an external platform, you will need to discuss this with LTS and with MDHI Program Director Ed Whitley.
- Technology (either software or hardware) purchased with grant funding will remain with the MDHI following the completion of the grant period.
- Spending must conclude by April 2018 for grants funded in the 2017-2018 cycle. Applicants must submit a formal request to extend the spending period beyond April 2018, but under no circumstances can extend past June 2018. Unspent funds must be returned to the MDHI. Extensions in project time or awarded dollar amount will not be granted under this program.
- At the end of your project, you are required to show a deliverablem, such as a website, film, exhibit, etc. and a written report about your project outcomes.
- You must submit the materials created through the grant (photos, videos, websites, etc.) to LTS by June 30, 2018 or by their graduation date. These materials will be shared with Lehigh University and with the Mellon foundation.
You are also expected to make a presentation on Lehigh's campus or in the community to disseminate what you learned through your new course.
Research Compliance
Questions? For questions about the application or project expenses, please contact Amanda Webb (inmdhig@lehigh.edu). For questions about the MDHI grants, contact Ed Whitley, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative at (whitley@lehigh.edu), or Cory Fischer-Hoffman (cof316@lehigh.edu). To learn more about the Mellon Digital Humanities Initiative, visit About.