National Endowment for the Humanities Announces $21.6 Million In New Grants

Texas State University-San Marcos selected for Southwest Regional Humanities Center

December 3, 2001

WASHINGTON—The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced the awarding of 363 NEH grants totaling $21.6 million. The grants--the first of three rounds of awards that will take place in fiscal year 2002--will support research by college and university professors, curriculum development programs at colleges and universities, humanities programs at museums and libraries, and public television and radio programs.

"NEH has a crucial role to play in generating new knowledge and communicating it broadly," said NEH acting chairman James Herbert. "I am delighted to announce the latest NEH grants for the advancement of the humanities in both the academic and the public arenas."

As part of a national competition to create Regional Humanities Centers around the nation, Texas State University-San Marcos was selected over Arizona State University to create a Southwest Regional Humanities Center. Texas State will receive $378,900 from NEH, which must be matched 3-1 to create an endowment of $1,515,600. The regional humanities centers program was the initiative of former NEH chairman William Ferris and involved a two-stage competition. In the first round, schools from around the country were invited to submit proposals to receive a $50,000 planning grant. Two schools per region were selected for the second competition to become the regional center.

The other regional centers selected are Temple University, Philadelphia (Mid-Atlantic region); Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Charlottesville (South Atlantic region); Tulane University, New Orleans (Deep South region); University of Wisconsin, Madison (Upper Mississippi Valley); Ohio University, Athens (Central region); University of Nebraska, Lincoln (Great Plains region); and the University of California, Davis (Pacific region).

As originally conceived, these regional centers are to serve as cultural hubs to support research on regional topics, encourage documentation and preservation of regional history and cultural resources, develop undergraduate and master?s level degree programs, collaborate with K-12 teachers and school systems, design programming to develop and engage public audiences, and develop resources for cultural heritage tourism.

For more information, contact Mark Busby, Director, Southwest Regional Humanities Center, Texas State University-San Marcos, San Marcos, TX.