Central Region Humanities Center
CRHC Grants
The CRHC offers faculty and graduate student research and travel grants and student internship and experiential learning grants to support projects related to Ohio and the larger geographic region of which it is part. Ohio University applicants must be working in a humanities* or humanities-related discipline. Community partner applicants must represent a public humanities institution within the Ohio region.
*The National Endowment for the Humanities defines humanities disciplines as including the study of language (modern and classical), linguistics, literature, history, jurisprudence, philosophy, archaeology [and anthropology], comparative religion, ethics, and art history, criticism and theory. Humanities-related disciplines include social sciences which have humanistic content and employ humanistic methods and disciplines that study of the relevance of the humanities to the current conditions of national life.
Call for Grant Applications
Application Deadline: Friday, October 17, 11:59 PM
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Mariana Dantas, CRHC Director dantas@ohio.edu.
Application Details
Apply for either the Student Internship and Experiential Learning Grant or the Faculty and Graduate Student Research and Travel Grant
Description
The Central Region Humanities Center grants supports faculty and graduate student research and student internship and experiential learning projects related to Ohio and/or one of the larger geographic regions of which it is part (the Ohio River Valley, Great Lakes Region, Old Northwest Territory, or the Midwest.)
Eligibility and Award Details
Student Internship and Experiential Learning Grant
Persons representing a public humanities institution within the Ohio region or Ohio University faculty members in a humanities or humanities-related discipline are eligible to apply. Examples of student projects supported by the grant include community engagement, creative activities, participation in academic or public humanities initiatives, etc. Applicants can request up to $1,000 to be used during the 2025-26 academic year.
Faculty and Graduate Student Research and Travel Grant
Ohio University faculty members or graduate students in a humanities or humanities-related discipline are eligible to apply. Awards will support research related travel or acquisition of research materials up to $1000 to be used during the 2025-26 academic year.
Application Submission
You will be asked to provide the following information:
- Applicant details.
- Application narrative (600-750 words) describing the research or internship/experiential learning project the award would support; indicating the significance of the project to the humanities; and providing a timeline for the work proposed in the application.
- An itemized budget indicating the proposed allocation of award funds
Recipients of the CRHC grants in the 2024-25 academic year were:
- Dr. Nicole Kaufman associate professor of sociology, received a CRHC research award to investigate the role religion and social science expertise played in the trial of defendants involved in the 1993 uprising in Lucasville, Ohio, the longest prison riot in American history.
- The African American Research and Service Institute at Ohio University (AARSI) received a CRHC research award to acquire research materials used by students, faculty, and short-term residency scholars working with AARSI's resources to develop research on African American experiences in the Ohio River Valley.
- Sean Pierce, a 2025 graduate of the Honors Tutorial College Environmental Studies program, received a CHRC award to conduct interviews with local government officials, mobile home residents, and small business owners affected by the Euclid Beach Neighborhood Park Plan. His research investigated the socioeconomic impact of green infrastructure initiatives on low-income neighborhoods in Cleveland, Ohio.
About the Center
With an emphasis on Southeast Ohio, the Central Region Humanities Center is dedicated to establishing strong ties with academic programs, providing student experiential learning opportunities, supporting graduate and undergraduate students, and engaging with community organizations.
Ohio University's Central Region Humanities Center was created in 2001 with support from a National Endowment for the Humanities grant.
The Center's goal is to act as an agent of regional understanding, but also as a clearinghouse for exchanging regional research and program ideas, and a facilitator that will enhance the work of other organizations and preserve their resources.
The center sponsors an annual speaker series and an interdisciplinary biennial conference, both of which focus on the rich culture and history of the local region.
Upcoming Events
“False Promises: The Struggle for Black Voting Rights in 1800s Ohio”, a book talk with author Ric Sheffield, prof. emeritus of legal studies and sociology at Kenyon College
April 20, 2026 | 4:00 pm | The Southeast Ohio History Center (24 W. State St, Athens, OH)
Refreshments will be provided.
Past & Virtual Events
- The United States Colored Infantry and Appalachian History in the Nineteenth Century, April 1, 2025 | 4:00 pm, 231 Baker Center, Presented by Dr. Alexandra Finley, Member of the Department of History at the University of Pittsburgh.
- "Gender and Sexuality in the Midwest," Friday- Saturday, Sept. 6th and 7th r at the Baker Center Theater. View video and schedule.
- "Boys and Oil" Discusses book-banning campaigns, connection to the fossil fuel industry, and the targeting of books by and about Queer and BIPOC people. Copies of his book, Boys and Oil: Growing Up in a Fractured Land, will be available for sale and signing. By Taylor Brorby | Thursday, September 5, 2024
- "Monuments to Midwestern Pioneer Mothers and Native Women" by Cynthia Prescott | Friday, Sept. 6
- "Memorializing Willa Cather in Cold War Nebraska: How the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial Navigated Questions of Gender and Sexuality" by Melissa Homestead | Saturday, Sept. 7
- Black Life in the Ohio Valley Conference | Sept. 9-10, 2022
- "Erased but not Forgotten: People and Places of Color in Southeastern Ohio, Prehistory to Present," presentation by Amelia Adams | April 2022
- Two-day conference on Ohio Settlement: First Nations and Beyond, which brought together faculty and staff from multiple departments across the university and drew hundreds of community members to campus in 2020.
- Black History Tour of Athens through mAppAthens traces how early African Americans helped shape the cultural and intellectual landscape of the region.
Advisory Committee
In addition to a director, the center has an advisory committee including faculty from African American Studies, English, Fine Arts, Geography, History, Journalism, and Sociology & Anthropology as well as representatives from a number of institutions outside Ohio University, such as the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, the Mount Zion Baptist Church Preservation Society, the Ohio Department of Transportation, the Southeast Ohio History Center, the Tablertown People of Color Museum, and the Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing, Ohio.
About the CRHC Director
Dr. Mariana Dantas is a historian of slavery in the Americas who has taught at Ohio University and served its academic community for over twenty years. She was appointed director of the Central Region Humanities Center in July of 2025. She aims to support and advance teaching and research in the humanities and public humanities at Ohio University through a productive partnership between the CRHC and local and regional history, cultural, and civic organizations.