The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is thrilled to announce the recipients of the Sustaining Humanities Infrastructure Program (SHIP) Grants. The 21 grantees, ranging from research universities, HBCUs, and small liberal arts colleges to nonprofit and community organizations, will receive awards of up to $100,000 each to support the full spectrum of humanities infrastructure—including staffing, programming, and operations—in order to restore, sustain, and recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. Priority was given to projects and programs that emphasize topics, themes, and approaches related to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as applications from minority-serving institutions.

Launched in October 2021, the Sustaining Humanities Infrastructure Program was made possible by a $2.5 million grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan (SHARP) Act of 2021. NEH/SSRC SHIP grants were designed to address the pandemic’s wide-ranging impact on higher education and the humanities sector by offering organizations and academic departments a direct opportunity to rebuild and recover.

“The humanities allow us to understand, navigate, and build from the challenges posed by evolving global crises such as the current pandemic. Now, more than ever, it has become crucial to continue to promote and value the study of humanities and social science disciplines and to center diversity, equity, and inclusion in scholarship in order to imagine a more equitable future,” said SSRC program director Daniella Sarnoff. “The SSRC is honored to have been selected by the NEH to play a role in bolstering humanities infrastructure and programming across US institutions.”

“The National Endowment for the Humanities commends the Social Science Research Council for its work in administering American Rescue Plan funds to assist colleges and universities in recovering from the impact of the pandemic,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo). “At every level, our higher education institutions—and particularly their humanities departments—have been forced to address Covid-related program closures, drops in enrollment, and decreased budgets. These awards will help 2- and 4-year institutions sustain and rebuild humanities programming to serve the needs of today’s diverse generation of undergraduates.”

American Rescue Plan funding will allow grant recipients to foster, rebuild, and advance a wide range of under-supported humanities programming, from a Displacement Studies Initiative at Virginia Tech’s Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies to a digital oral history project at Grambling State University that aims to preserve the voices of historically disadvantaged populations affected by Covid-19. View the full list of grantees and learn more about their projects.

About the Social Science Research Council (SSRC):
The Social Science Research Council, an independent, international nonprofit, mobilizes necessary knowledge for the public good by supporting scholars worldwide, generating new research across disciplines, and linking researchers with policymakers and citizens.

About the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH):
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 neh.gov.