Hewlett Foundation Gives IC Grant for Undergraduate Research in Humanities

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has awarded nine key humanities faculty members a three-year, $150,000 grant to help them help their students use digital technology in collaborative research. The projects supported by this grant will allow humanities students the same opportunities for team research that are currently offered to students in chemistry, physics, biology, psychology, and other sciences.

The key faculty participants are Barbara Adams of the writing department; Nancy Brcak, Stephen Clancy, and Gary Wells of art history; and the English department's Hugh Egan, Katharine Kittredge, Fred Madden, James Swafford, and Michael Twomey. They will introduce the possibilities to their colleagues, as well, to broaden the use of the technology.

"Students in the humanities complete a great number of traditional research and interpretive assignments such as term papers, but such experiences are solitary and usually conducted in a library," says School of Humanities and Sciences dean Howard Erlich. "Though these students have many original insights, they lack opportunities for scholarly originality because that often requires access to collections, archives, or field sites far from the campus. Research or fieldwork with faculty and fellow students teaches critical thinking and sustained inquiry, as well as social and communications skills."

"Providing experiences in team research in the humanities, which has rarely been possible to achieve except through field studies, is now feasible on campus through the use of digital technology," adds James Malek, provost and vice president for academic affairs. "The results of this grant will provide a well-thought-out national model and reaffirm the College-wide goal of combining collaborative work between students and faculty with more experiential, performance-based learning experiences."

Thanks to internal funding and a $500,000 grant from the W. M. Keck Foundation, the College has already laid the groundwork for a number of digital technology projects that can be introduced into the humanities curriculum. The Hewlett grant will provide the resources to build on that base. Specific course projects include, for example, putting together the final pieces of a virtual pilgrimage to Chartres and creating an ever-expanding website on Oscar Wilde, a virtual museum of modern art, and an online archive of servants' diaries, slave narratives, and other nontraditional sources not easy to obtain in print. These projects, says Erlich, "will provide an experience comparable to that of undergraduate research teams in the sciences," giving students experiences that "can have a powerful effect on liberal learning as students move from inquiry to synthesis and professional presentation."

--- Keith Davis