The Humanities Center supports projects that foster research across departments or institutions, including conferences, lectures, and more, bringing together faculty from different departments and/or institutions through Faculty Collaborative Research Grants. We seek collaboration that enriches intellectual activity on campus and leads to results which can be specified. We do not grant funding support for the purchase of equipment or the employment of assistants or travel from Pitt's campus. We seek projects that take place in Pittsburgh, and at least in part at Pitt.
To the extent that our funds permit, the Humanities Center offers two types of support: smaller grants up to $2,000, and larger grants up to $5,000. For the larger grants, we require that applicants have additional sources of funding that match or exceed the amount requested from our center, although we may make exceptions in very special cases. If you are considering a larger grant, please inform yourself concerning the Dietrich School Faculty Research and Scholarship Program (FRSP). They award annually about three times as much as we can. See https://www.as.pitt.edu/faculty/research/dietrich-school-funding
We accept applications twice a year: once in late September for projects that will expend their funds in the current Academic Year and once in mid-March for projects that will expend their funds in the next Academic Year, or in some cases in the year after. We encourage colleagues to plan in advance, since funds will be more limited in September than in March.
During periods in which we accept applications for Collaborative Research Grants, you may find application information here.
The Humanities Center has funded these projects over the years:
Academic Year 2018-2019
Ryan McDermott - "Global Genealogies of Modernity"
Vladimir Padunov - "Shadow Empire: Russia's Struggle with Nationhood"
Lisa Parker - "Different Cultural and Conceptual Worlds: Colliding, Intersecting, Collaborating"
Ryan McDermott - "Global Genealogies of Modernity"
Vladimir Padunov - "Shadow Empire: Russia's Struggle with Nationhood"
Lisa Parker - "Different Cultural and Conceptual Worlds: Colliding, Intersecting, Collaborating"
Neepa Mujamdar - "Africans in India: From Slaves to Generals and Rulers"
Alex Taylor - "P.J. Zimmerlink: Zombie Paintings"
Clark Muenzer - "The Goethe-Lexicon Project"
Caitlin Bruce - "Hemispheric Conversations Urban Art Project"
Michael Goodhart - "Faculty Development Seminar on Globalizing the Human"
Nancy Condee "Central Eurasian Studies"
Sean Guillory - "Youth in Eurasia and Beyond"
Michele Reid-Vazquez - "Representing Diasporas: Afrolatinidad in Global Perspective Conference"
Jerome Branch "Empire and its Aftermath in the Hispanic World"
Christina Hoenig - "Programming in Translation"
Academic Year 2017-2018
Rostom Mesli - Gayle Rubin
Julian Gill-Peterson "GSWS and Children's Litrature/Childhood Studies"
Julian Gill-Peterson "GSWS and Children's Litrature/Childhood Studies"
Nancy Condee
Michael Goodhart
Sean Guillory
Michele Reid-Vazquez
David Tenorio
John Walsh
Jerome Branche
Christina Hoenig
Caitlin Bruce
Michael Goodhart
Sean Guillory
Michele Reid-Vazquez
David Tenorio
John Walsh
Jerome Branche
Christina Hoenig
Caitlin Bruce
Academic Year 2016-2017
Diana Anselmo Sequiera (Film Studies), "Young People, Material Culture, and Media History Conference"
Caitlin Bruce “Hemispheric Conversations Urban Art Project”
Yolanda Covington-Ward “Diverse Spiritualities: Embodiment and Relationality in Religions of Africa and its Diasporas”
Emily Deering Crosby “Writing the Revolution: Feminist Rhetorics of the Second Wave”
Michael Goodhart “Humanizing the Global, Globalizing the Human: Empire and Imperialism”
Aaron Henderson “The Intersection Audio Guide”
Chloe Hogg “Premodern Elements”
Brent Malin (Communication), "Masculinity Studies"
John McDowell “Reconsidering Hegel's Science of Logic”
Dawn Lundy Martin “Erasing Basquiat”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic), "Russian Film Symposium"
Mark Paterson (Sociology), "Medical Humanities Speaker Series"
Todd Reeser “Black Masculinity, Black Feminism”
Dennis Schebetta (Theatre Arts), "Soldier Songs"
Elizabeth Monasterios (Hispanic Languages & Literatures), "International Conference on Andean Studies"
Elizabeth Monasterios (Hispanic Languages & Literatures), "International Conference on Andean Studies"
Academic Year 2015-2016
Mark Lynn Anderson (English), "Women and the Silent Screen VIII: An International Conference"
David Pettersen (French & Italian), "Auteurism Then and Now"
Volodia Padunov (Slavic), "Russian Film Symposium 2016: Re-Makes and Sequels"
Gayle Rogers (English), "The Society for Novel Studies at Pitt, 2016"
Todd Reeser (French & Italian), "Doing the Body in the 21st Century"
Daniel Balderston (Hispanic), "Text as Process: A Symposium on the Genesis of Literary Texts"
Alison Langmead (History Art & Architecture), "Collaborative Faculty Seminar in Digital Methods"
Michelle Granshaw (Theatre Arts), "Spectacles of Labor: Performance and the Working Class"
Lina Insana (French & Italian), "Exploring Commemoration"
Patrick Manning (World History Center), "Connecting the Worlds of Work: Port Cities as Sites of Interaction between Free and Unfree Labor"
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta (Theatre Arts), "Hemispheric Bodies Politic and the Practices of Ableism, Humanism, and Justice"
Academic Year 2014-2015
Joseph Alter (Anthropology), “Capturing the Ineffable: Wisdom in Anthropological Perspective”
Jacques Bromberg (Classics), “Class Acts II: Exploring Roman Comedy and Its Reception”
Elizabeth Monasterios (Hispanic), “De-decolonization, Indianity and De-patriarchalization: A Current Bolivian Debate”
Jeffrey Schwartz (Anthropology), “Race, Sex, and Human Evolution”
Giovanni Valente (Philosophy), “Climate Science: Philosophy, Public Policy and Risk Communication”
Sabine von Dirke (German), “Aesthetic Obstinacy in Transnational Literature, Film and the Performing Arts”
Jennifer Waldron (English), “Medieval and Renaissance Globalisms”
Mathew Rosenblum (Music), “Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival”
Academic Year 2013-2014
Shelome Gooden (Linguistics), NWVA 2013 Conference: “New Ways of Analyzing Variation”
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta (Theatre Arts), “Public Praxis: Performing, Race, and History in Theatre and Dance”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic), Russian Film Symposium 2014: “Gendering Genre: Recent Russian Romantic Comedies and Gritty Dramas”
Shanara Reid-Brinkley (Communication), National Debate Scholars Conference, Pilot for the Debate Scholar-in-Residence Program
Jackie Smith (Sociology), International Conference: “Social Movements and World-System Transformation: Prospects and Challenges”
Armando Garcia (Hispanic), “Mimicry and Decolonial Performance: A Transdisciplinary Symposium”
Andrew Weintraub (Music), “Voices of Asian Modernities
Todd Reeser (Women’s Studies), “Gender and the Global”
Bruce McConachie (Theatre Arts), “Performing and Experiencing The Tempest: A Cognitive Approach”
Shalini Puri (English), “Theorizing Fieldwork in the Humanities”
Clark Muenzer (German), In support of a visit from scholar David Wellbery
Patrick Manning (World History Center), “Flying University of Transnational Humanities”
Gayle Rogers (English), Collaboration with the annual conference of the Modernist Studies Association
John Walsh (French) and Christel Temple (Africana Studies), “Afropean Narratives of the 21st Century”
Cynthia Croot (Theatre Arts), “Investigating Venus”
Piotr Gwiazda (Humanities Center Visiting Scholar) and Charles Legere (English), “The Poetry (-/+ Critical) Playlist”
Academic Year 2012-2013
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (French & Italian) and Bruce Venarde (History) “Crusade after the Crusades: Conquest, Colonialism, Contact Zones”
Holger Hoock (History) "Eighteenth-Century Studies at Pitt"
R.A. Judy (English) "Poetic Socialities of Radical Humanism"
James Lennox (History and Philosophy of Science) “Medicine, Philosophy, and the Scientific Revolution Initiative”
Dennis Looney (French & Italian) “Speaking in Tongues: The Rise of the Early Modern Vernacular”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic, Film Studies) "Russian Film Symposium 2013: Re-Imag(in)ing Class: Recent Russian Cinema"
Gavin Steingo (Music) and Brian Beaton (School of Information Sciences) "Crowdsourced Music: Social and Aesthetic Implications"
Academic Year 2011-2012
Susan Andrade (English) “Anglophone and Asian Novels, 1945 to the Present”
Mohammed Bamyeh (Sociology), John Markoff (Sociology), and Alice Mattoni (Sociology) “What is New About the Arab Revolts”
David Birnbaum (Slavic) “Visit of Short-term Fellow, Ruth Bottigheimer”
Seymour Drescher (History) and Giuseppina Mecchia (French and Italian) "The Idea of France: An International Conference"
Hannah Johnson (English) “Interdisciplinary Colloquium ‘Medieval Anti-Judaism in the Crucible of Modern Thought’”
Daniel Morgan (English) “Film and Novel: Major Forms of Imaginative Fiction”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic, Film Studies) “Russian Film Symposium 2012: Other Russias / Russia’s Others: Films in and on the Margins”
Academic Year 2010-2011
Daniel Balderston (Hispanic) "Genetic Criticism and Latin American Texts: A Symposium"
Don Bialostosky (English) "Rhetorical Criticism of Literature"
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (French and Italian) and Adam Shear (Religious Studies) "Within the Boundaries: Jewish Literature and Identity in Medieval France"
Carol Mastrangelo Bové (English) "Collaborative Research in Translation Studies"
Colin MacCabe (English) "Film and the End of Empire"
Bruce McConachie (Theatre Arts) "Culture and Politics in Asian Diasporas: Southern Asian Theater and Performance Across Frontiers"
Giuseppina Mecchia (French and Italian) “Successful Societies: An Experiment in Vision and Focus”
Young Rae Oum (Asian Studies Center) “Reframing Gender, Power, and Resistance in Latin America and Asia”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic, Film Studies) “Russian Film Symposium 2011: Other Russias / Russia’s Others: Films in and on the Margins ”
Kirk Savage (History of Art & Architecture) “Imagining Planetarity: World Picturing, Placemaking, Connectivity”
Francesca Savoia (French and Italian) "Italian Studies and the Pitt Academic Community: The American Association of Italian Studies 31st Annual Conference"
John Twyning (English) "Keywords Project Website Launch"
Jen Waldron (English, Medieval and Renaissance Studies) “Early Modern Historicities”
Joseph Alter (Anthropology), “Capturing the Ineffable: Wisdom in Anthropological Perspective”
Jacques Bromberg (Classics), “Class Acts II: Exploring Roman Comedy and Its Reception”
Elizabeth Monasterios (Hispanic), “De-decolonization, Indianity and De-patriarchalization: A Current Bolivian Debate”
Jeffrey Schwartz (Anthropology), “Race, Sex, and Human Evolution”
Giovanni Valente (Philosophy), “Climate Science: Philosophy, Public Policy and Risk Communication”
Sabine von Dirke (German), “Aesthetic Obstinacy in Transnational Literature, Film and the Performing Arts”
Jennifer Waldron (English), “Medieval and Renaissance Globalisms”
Mathew Rosenblum (Music), “Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival”
Academic Year 2013-2014
Shelome Gooden (Linguistics), NWVA 2013 Conference: “New Ways of Analyzing Variation”
Lisa Jackson-Schebetta (Theatre Arts), “Public Praxis: Performing, Race, and History in Theatre and Dance”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic), Russian Film Symposium 2014: “Gendering Genre: Recent Russian Romantic Comedies and Gritty Dramas”
Shanara Reid-Brinkley (Communication), National Debate Scholars Conference, Pilot for the Debate Scholar-in-Residence Program
Jackie Smith (Sociology), International Conference: “Social Movements and World-System Transformation: Prospects and Challenges”
Armando Garcia (Hispanic), “Mimicry and Decolonial Performance: A Transdisciplinary Symposium”
Andrew Weintraub (Music), “Voices of Asian Modernities
Todd Reeser (Women’s Studies), “Gender and the Global”
Bruce McConachie (Theatre Arts), “Performing and Experiencing The Tempest: A Cognitive Approach”
Shalini Puri (English), “Theorizing Fieldwork in the Humanities”
Clark Muenzer (German), In support of a visit from scholar David Wellbery
Patrick Manning (World History Center), “Flying University of Transnational Humanities”
Gayle Rogers (English), Collaboration with the annual conference of the Modernist Studies Association
John Walsh (French) and Christel Temple (Africana Studies), “Afropean Narratives of the 21st Century”
Cynthia Croot (Theatre Arts), “Investigating Venus”
Piotr Gwiazda (Humanities Center Visiting Scholar) and Charles Legere (English), “The Poetry (-/+ Critical) Playlist”
Academic Year 2012-2013
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (French & Italian) and Bruce Venarde (History) “Crusade after the Crusades: Conquest, Colonialism, Contact Zones”
Holger Hoock (History) "Eighteenth-Century Studies at Pitt"
R.A. Judy (English) "Poetic Socialities of Radical Humanism"
James Lennox (History and Philosophy of Science) “Medicine, Philosophy, and the Scientific Revolution Initiative”
Dennis Looney (French & Italian) “Speaking in Tongues: The Rise of the Early Modern Vernacular”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic, Film Studies) "Russian Film Symposium 2013: Re-Imag(in)ing Class: Recent Russian Cinema"
Gavin Steingo (Music) and Brian Beaton (School of Information Sciences) "Crowdsourced Music: Social and Aesthetic Implications"
Academic Year 2011-2012
Susan Andrade (English) “Anglophone and Asian Novels, 1945 to the Present”
Mohammed Bamyeh (Sociology), John Markoff (Sociology), and Alice Mattoni (Sociology) “What is New About the Arab Revolts”
David Birnbaum (Slavic) “Visit of Short-term Fellow, Ruth Bottigheimer”
Seymour Drescher (History) and Giuseppina Mecchia (French and Italian) "The Idea of France: An International Conference"
Hannah Johnson (English) “Interdisciplinary Colloquium ‘Medieval Anti-Judaism in the Crucible of Modern Thought’”
Daniel Morgan (English) “Film and Novel: Major Forms of Imaginative Fiction”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic, Film Studies) “Russian Film Symposium 2012: Other Russias / Russia’s Others: Films in and on the Margins”
Academic Year 2010-2011
Daniel Balderston (Hispanic) "Genetic Criticism and Latin American Texts: A Symposium"
Don Bialostosky (English) "Rhetorical Criticism of Literature"
Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski (French and Italian) and Adam Shear (Religious Studies) "Within the Boundaries: Jewish Literature and Identity in Medieval France"
Carol Mastrangelo Bové (English) "Collaborative Research in Translation Studies"
Colin MacCabe (English) "Film and the End of Empire"
Bruce McConachie (Theatre Arts) "Culture and Politics in Asian Diasporas: Southern Asian Theater and Performance Across Frontiers"
Giuseppina Mecchia (French and Italian) “Successful Societies: An Experiment in Vision and Focus”
Young Rae Oum (Asian Studies Center) “Reframing Gender, Power, and Resistance in Latin America and Asia”
Vladimir Padunov (Slavic, Film Studies) “Russian Film Symposium 2011: Other Russias / Russia’s Others: Films in and on the Margins ”
Kirk Savage (History of Art & Architecture) “Imagining Planetarity: World Picturing, Placemaking, Connectivity”
Francesca Savoia (French and Italian) "Italian Studies and the Pitt Academic Community: The American Association of Italian Studies 31st Annual Conference"
John Twyning (English) "Keywords Project Website Launch"
Jen Waldron (English, Medieval and Renaissance Studies) “Early Modern Historicities”