About the Grant
Dickinson College is the recipient of a four-year grant from the Mellon Foundation to support the health humanities across disciplines and programs. This grant builds on the success of "Beyond the New Normal," a three-year project (2023-2026) also funded by the Mellon Foundation, dedicated to the study of disability and normality, and to the enduring value of literary study and the humanities.
Over the next four years (2026-2030), "Building a Health Humanities Program" will offer support for faculty scholarship and teaching in six main areas:
(1) Faculty seminars, aimed at building expertise and community in the health humanities;
(2) Course reassigned time for research and/or pedagogical development;
(3) Summer and winter break research and pedagogical development sub-grants;
(4) Community engagement sub-grants to forge and deepen local partnerships;
(5) The creation of two permanent term chairs with significant research funds;
(6) Two symposia on Health Humanities and the Liberal Arts, offered to faculty at liberal-arts colleges and open to Dickinson faculty.
Please note: decisions on awards go through the relevant governance structures and/or college offices (R&D, in the case of course reassigned time and research sub-grants; CCLA, in the case of community partnerships; etc.). The grants, however, are funded by the Mellon Foundation and are competitive.
You can read more about the grant here.
Upcoming Opportunities and Deadlines:
- Grant Info Session on Tuesday, April 21, noon-1:00 pm on Zoom. Come learn more about the grant and how to get involved.
- A Fall 2026 faculty seminar to develop shared health humanities and studies expertise and a new, team-taught gateway course to health studies. Co-led by Siobhan Phillips (Professor of English) and Tiffany Frey (Associate Professor of Biology), this seminar includes stipends for all participating faculty across all divisions of the College. Apply here by April 28, 2026.
For more information contact:
Claire Seiler, Professor of English
& Alyssa DeBlasio, Professor of Russian