This article notes that while there is a large literature lamenting increasing assaults on academic freedom, there is little literature to address ways in which it might be preserved. Sampling that writing, it finds some concern with protecting academic freedom in extreme scenarios, via discrete programmes, and generalised dissidence, but no…

For three days in January 2014, more than a hundred thought leaders met in Tempe, Arizona, to discuss the present and future challenges and opportunities for IT's support of research. Recommendations to improve institutions' support of scientific and humanities research included shaping central IT's role as an aggregator; ensuring that central IT…

The dissertation adviser's task may be to give advice, but his or her approval is required for the thesis to pass and the degree to be awarded. It is the graduate student's dissertation, but the imprimatur belongs to the dissertation adviser, so perhaps the process belongs to both of them. But that equation leaves out some other important actors,…

Clement A. Price, a member of the Obama transition team's committee on the arts, spent several days in December walking the halls of the National Endowment for the Humanities, interviewing program officers and generally taking the temperature of the place. It was an interesting moment to visit: not only was a new president preparing to take…

Ethical, Legal and Social Implications ("ELSI") research has played an increasingly important role in scientific research. Tens of millions of dollars, many of which are public, are spent funding scientific research projects. Taxpayers are demanding that scientific advancement move forward, hand-in-hand with careful examination of the many ethical…

Despite the size and growth of political science and sociology relative to other disciplines, political science and sociology graduate students have received a declining share of funding for dissertation field research in recent years. Specifically, political science and sociology students are losing out to competitive applicants from…

Online, open access is the superior model for scholarly communication. A variety of scientific communities in physics, the life sciences and economics have gone furthest in innovating their scholarly communication through open access, enhancing accessibility for scientists, students and the interested public. Open access enjoys a comparative…

Every summer, with financial support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), more than 2,500 teachers from across the U.S. participate in advanced study programs in the humanities that range from one to six weeks in length. Most of the programs are conducted at institutions of higher learning, both within the U.S. and abroad, and…

This two-part report contains the papers delivered at a national planning workshop conducted by the Community College Humanities Association (CCHA) in October 1979 to analyze the role of the humanities at the community college, as well as the report of the inaugural conference of the CCHA. Part I begins with Donald Schmeltekopf's presidential…

In March 1984, the first issue of "Esprit," a semi-annual humanities magazine for the 56 two-year colleges in New York State, was published. The magazine seeks to confront the apparent decline of student interest in the humanities, community doubts about the relevance of the humanities, and the seeming indifference to the special truths…

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency whose principal function is to encourage the understanding and use of the humanities to national concerns. It serves its various constituencies by supporting the work of individual humanists and of nonprofit institutions and organizations engaged in projects involving the…

Describes the development of humanities electives for occupational programs at Bristol Community College. Discusses course objectives, funding sources, the team-taught interdisciplinary approach, and benefits for students and teachers, e.g., increasing the relevance of literary works, offering a broad approach to the humanities, and promoting…

The National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a major center of intellectual thought that has been established through a predominantly private effort, is described. The creation of a national center for the humanities, site selection, applicant selection, and the endowment campaign are discussed. (MLW)

This report was written by the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and offers suggestions to the President of the United States on ways to strengthen the system of support for the arts and the humanities in the United States. The document describes a vital cultural life as essential to a functioning democracy. It also examines the…

Describes how public libraries can plan, fund, and implement scholar-led, library-based, humanities book discussion programs using the example of the Southern Connecticut Library Council. Key steps in planning, funding, targeting the audience, selecting topics and books, obtaining community support, recruiting scholars, marketing, administration,…