Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 4, No. 398. Saturday, 26 June 1993.
From: Al Cacicedo <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 25 Jun 1993 22:29:31 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: NEH Younger Scholars Program
I have questions which although not about Shakespeare, may be of interest to
some of you, particularly those who teach at small colleges such as mine. Has
anyone at a small school (1000-2000) had much success in getting NEH grants for
younger scholars? I'd be eager to hear about the experiences of people at
schools with middling reputations. There's a little bit of sour grapes in what
follows, but I honestly think that the way the younger scholars program is
arranged benefits students in larger and richer schools. In such schools
arranging for a sponsor might be a matter of going down the hallway and
knocking on a series of professors' doors, and waiting for someone (probably a
recently hired junior faculty for whom the small amount of money offered for
the work might be tempting) and then making use of the facilities at hand. In a
school like mine, we have only two people who do "early" literature, and so a
major reason for a student's seeking a stipend is to go away so that she can
hear new voices and get new perspectives. My school also has nothing in the
way of manuscripts or unedited primary sources, so another reason for a student
to seek a stipend is to have access to a good library. Believe me, the search
for someone at a first-rate institution who might be willing to sponsor a
student he or she does not know is daunting for even the brightest and most
persevering student. Why doesn't the NEH sponsor summer seminars for younger
scholars to be run much as are the summer seminars for us big boys and girls?
Just a-reading in Reading, PA
Al Cacicedo (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Albright College