At a time when some colleges and universities are reducing or eliminating humanities programs, Pomona College and the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) are jointly facilitating a program to enhance teaching in these classic disciplines.
The Graves Awards make it possible for early-career professors in fields ranging from American studies to history, languages, religious studies, communication, theater and others to pursue endeavors that will enrich the student experience in the classroom. This year, a total of $170,000 will be awarded in grants up to $15,000, notes Benjamin Keim, associate professor of classics at Pomona and chair of the Graves Awards Committee.
“The grant has been crucial for carving out an entirely new research path for me,” says Tom Le, associate professor and chair of Pomona’s politics department and a 2020 awardee. The result has been conference presentations, articles and fellowships. And, Le notes, a number of the Pomona students hired as research assistants “have gone on to prestigious graduate programs, gained internships and landed jobs directly related to the work on the project.”
Le’s colleague Susan McWilliams Barndt, professor of politics, received a Graves Award in 2014. “The Graves gave me not only research support for my first book, Traveling Back, but also a boost of confidence,” she says. “I will always be grateful for the Graves’ support of my teaching and scholarship.”
Mary Paster, professor of linguistics and cognitive science, used her 2012 Graves Award to conduct grammar research in San Diego with a group of her students on the unwritten Maay language. It is spoken in Somalia and was brought to the U.S. by Somali refugees. By meeting at a local restaurant in San Diego’s “Little Mogadishu” area, she and the students were able “to hear the language spoken casually all around us and get to know the speakers in the context of their own community,” she says. “I would not have been able to do the project without the Graves funding.”
Selection committee chair Keim is himself a 2018 awardee. “I worked with colleagues in Edinburgh on a fourth-century BCE author, Xenophon,” he says. “When I got home, one of the results was a course that I began to teach on the art of leadership in ancient Greece.”
Professors in 47 private colleges and universities in California, Oregon and Washington that do not offer a doctorate in a humanities field are eligible to apply through their home institution, which can each nominate one scholar. Grants are made on a two-year cycle. Winners are selected by a committee chaired by a member of the Pomona faculty, with remaining members of the panel drawn from humanities scholars at non-participating institutions.
Eligible professors must be in their third to 10th year of teaching in a permanent position. Funds may be used for a variety of purposes, such as to attend conferences, collaborate with other scholars, or perhaps travel to see parts of the world they may have taught about but not had the opportunity to visit. The goal is “a transformative experience that will help them develop as a teacher and a scholar going forward,” says Keim.
The Graves Awards came about through the generosity of the late Arnold L. Graves, an attorney in Spokane, Washington, and his wife, Lois. In 1957, they set up an endowment to recognize and encourage excellence in teaching the humanities in liberal arts colleges. Though they had no direct connection to Pomona, the college was chosen to administer the program in conjunction with the ACLS. Since the first grant was made in 1967, approximately 300 professors have received awards.