Mellon Initiative Humanities/Arts Lab Development Grant Application
The Mellon Initiative invites disciplinary and interdisciplinary faculty teams to apply for funding to create and run Humanities/Arts labs that will run during the academic year. The purpose of Arts/Humanities labs is to create opportunities for students with various levels of experience to earn course credit and develop research skills while working with faculty on their research projects. Labs will also provide opportunities for more experienced students to mentor students who are just learning new research skills. Labs should be created around specific faculty research projects, but should be flexible enough to be run by different faculty members each semester. For example, instead of creating a lab titled “Biblical Manuscript Lab,” a more general “Ancient Manuscript Lab” can start off working on biblical manuscripts, but morph into a lab that focuses on ancient Greek manuscripts or Sanskrit manuscripts in future semesters under the direction of different faculty.  

Since this is a development grant, most of the work will be done after the grant is awarded. Faculty whose proposals are funded will be expected to complete the following steps towards creating and implementing their Humanities/Arts lab:

1) plan the lab, which includes determining the focus of the research, the number of students they will allow into the lab, the scaffolded research tasks that will take place within the lab, how the students will be evaluated, and the pedagogical framework for each semester (e.g., orientation, readings, work done together in the lab versus work done out of lab time);

2) work with department chairs to make sure the lab will count towards requirements for the major;

3) submit the lab to the UCC as a new course that fulfills at least one Pathways requirement (e.g.,  experiential learning);

4) commit to teaching the lab over multiple semesters beginning in the 3rd semester after the grant is awarded;

5) provide written assessment after teaching the lab the first time;

6) discuss their projects at Mellon sponsored workshops at the Collaborative if possible.

Faculty are encouraged to apply for grants in teams of two or three. Each faculty member of a funded proposal will be awarded a $2,500 stipend ($1,500 will be paid at the beginning of the grant period and $1,000 will be paid at the beginning of the semester when the lab is taught for the first time). Each lab will also have a $5000 budget to purchase materials for the lab and/or to attend a workshop.

In addition to completing the following form, please have each department chair send an e-mail memo indicating that they will allow the lab to count towards the major/minor. E-mail memos should be sent to melloninitiative@trinity.edu.

Prior to applying for this grant, please set up a meeting with Lauren Turek (lturek@trinity.edu) to discuss your project and the specifics of the grant. This meeting should take place by October 15, 2021.

Deadline for proposals is April 4, 2022.


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Untitled Title
Title of proposal *
Names of faculty and their departments *
E-mail address of each faculty *
Trinity ID of each faculty *
Description of proposed Humanities/Arts Lab *
Descriptions should include the area of research, how undergraduates will be utilized in different parts of the research, how students will be assessed, and materials required to start and run the lab. This part of the application will necessarily be preliminary—and could change during the grant period—but should show that you have thought about ways organize and integrate student researchers into the lab. Please limit your description to 500 words. You might want to type your answer in another document and then copy and paste it into this field.
In addition to filling out this form, please 1) send copies of each applicant's CV to MellonInitiative@Trinity.edu and 2) have each department chair send an e-mail memo indicating that they will allow the lab to count towards the major/minor.  If you have any additional information that is relevant to your application, please provide it here.
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