The University of Northern Iowa was recently awarded a highly competitive $35,000 Humanities Connection Grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a project entitled "Humanities for Civic Education: Preparing Teachers and Students for Engaged Citizenship."

Through this national grant, a team of faculty from across three colleges that span the humanities, education and social sciences - including the Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy - will create coursework and requirements for a 12-hour interdisciplinary certificate, “Civic Literacy and Engagement,” that is part of a new University of Northern Iowa Foundational Inquiry (UNIFI) general education program.

This certificate will center the humanities in civic education and will encourage students to explore their obligations as citizens, both in the classroom and outside of it. As one of the members of the panel reviewing the proposal noted, due to UNI's role in educating future teachers, the certificate has "the potential to improve civic education in the state as a whole."

“This grant recognizes the crucial role of the humanities in fostering the development of educated and engaged citizens, which is a fundamental goal of a UNI education,” stated Susan Hill, project director. “Since many of our graduates stay in Iowa and work in many different fields, including education, health care, and business, we are thrilled to receive national support for a project that will benefit Iowa well into the future.”

The project team for the grant includes:

• Thaddeus Atzmon, Research Coordinator, Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy
• Benjamin Forsyth, Director of Educator Preparation
• Susan Hill, Department Head and Professor of Philosophy & World Religions and Project Director (PD) 
• Jennifer McNabb, Department Head and Professor of History, co-PD
• Lori Norton-Meier, Director, Jacobson Center for Comprehensive Literacy
• Jim O'Loughlin, Department Head and Professor of Languages & Literatures, co-PD
• Scott Peters, Department Head and Professor of Political Science, co-PD

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.

Contact:
Susan Hill, ​​Head, Project Director, susan.hill@uni.edu, 319-273-6221.