How to Apply

Prior to applying to this institute, please study this website and consider the project’s requirements. Deadline to apply is Friday, March 3, 2023 by midnight. This date is required by the NEH of all projects.

Successful applicants will be notified of their selection on Monday, April 3, 2023. They will have until Friday, April 14, 2023, to accept or decline the offer. These dates are required by the NEH of all projects. An individual may apply to a maximum of two seminars, institutes, or landmarks, but may only attend one. Once you have accepted an offer to attend any NEH Summer Program (NEH Summer Seminar, Institute, or Landmarks Workshop), you may not accept an additional offer or must withdraw in order to accept a different offer.

We the People: Migrant Waves in the Making of America allows 30 participants to pursue an intensive program of inquiry. Participants receive a certificate upon completion of the program. If you want graduate credit for the institute, contact the institute directors. You would need to pay for graduate credit at the University of Arizona as a separate fee and submit additional written work and plans. 

Each participant will receive a $2,200 stipend to help cover the cost of travel, lodging, and meals for the two-week institute. Please note that all Institute stipend amounts are pre-tax. In addition to the stipend, participants will receive the set of required books and electronic copies of articles and chapters, along with paid admission to the museums.

Project applicants who accept an offer to participate are expected to remain during the entire period of the program and to participate in its work on a full-time basis. If a participant is obliged through special circumstances to depart before the end of the program, it shall be the recipient institution’s responsibility to see that only a pro rata share of the stipend is received or that the appropriate pro rata share of the stipend is returned if the participant has already received the full stipend. Once an applicant has accepted an offer to attend any NEH Summer Program (Seminar, Institute, or Landmark), they may not accept an additional offer or withdraw in order to accept a different offer. Participants are required to submit a project evaluation at the end of the Institute.

Applicant Selection

The Institute Selection Committees comprised of the Institute’s directors and two or more colleagues, who are K-12 educators, will evaluate all complete applications to select a group of Summer Scholars and to identify alternates.

Special consideration is given to the likelihood that an applicant will benefit professionally. It is important, therefore, to address each of the following factors in your application essay:

• effectiveness and commitment as a teacher/ educator;
• intellectual interests, in general and as related to the work of the institute;
• special perspectives, skills, or experiences that would contribute to the institute;
• evidence that the experience will enhance the long-term impact for your teaching and scholarship;
• special qualifications, such as work with Indigenous and Latinx populations

Participants Eligibility Criteria

Institutes for K-12 Educators 

Institutes are designed for a national audience of full- or part-time K-12 educators who teach in public, charter, independent, and religiously affiliated schools, or as home schooling educators. Project directors may admit a limited number of educators who work outside the K-12 classroom and who can demonstrate that their participation will advance project goals and enhance their professional work.

At least five spaces must be reserved for teachers who are new to the profession (those who have been teaching for five years or fewer).

Participants must be United States citizens, residents of U.S. jurisdictions, or foreign nationals who have been residing in the United States or its territories for at least the three years immediately preceding the application deadline. U.S. citizens teaching abroad at U.S. chartered institutions are also eligible to participate. Foreign nationals teaching abroad are not eligible to participate.

A participant need not have an advanced degree in order to take part in an institute.

Individuals may not apply to participate in an institute whose director is a family member, who is affiliated with the same institution, who has served as an academic advisor to the applicant, or who has led a previous NEH-funded Seminar, Institute or Landmarks program attended by the applicant. In any given year an individual may apply to a maximum of two projects but may attend only one.

Participants may not be delinquent in the repayment of federal debt (e.g., taxes, student loans, child support payments, and delinquent payroll taxes for household or other employees). Individuals may not apply to participate in an institute if they have been debarred or suspended by any federal department or agency.

To be considered for selection, applicants must submit a complete application as indicated on the individual institute’s website.

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