The WSU Humanities Planning Group hopes to fund up to two research projects for $3,500, said Debbie Brudie, Humanities Planning Group finance and budget manager.

Recipients of these two grants will be decided in the inaugural Collaborative Research Project competition, Brudie said.

Eligible recipients for the grant are limited to groups including students led by WSU faculty members, and will explore research questions between different humanistic disciplines or apply the methodologies of the humanities to other fields of study, according to a document released by the Humanities Planning Group.

“These awards will provide support to self-constituted groups of faculty and students engaged in research exploring connections between diverse areas in the humanities, or investigating humanistic responses to issues in a wide variety of fields,” said Michael Hanly, Humanities Planning Group co-director and WSU professor of medieval literature and culture.

Hanly said the Collaborative Research Project gives WSU faculty and students the opportunity to engage in truly interdisciplinary research.

“Professors and students will meet outside of traditional departmental boundaries to explore research topics that they themselves determine,” he said. “The program will thus support faculty in their efforts to investigate and construct new areas of research in a time of shifting disciplinary boundaries, while encouraging graduate students to participate in ongoing scholarly dialogues.”

To apply for the grant, applicants must submit a two-page project proposal and a one-page budget proposal by Nov. 1, 2013, according to the document. According to the Collaborative Research Project announcement, the award or awardees will be published in WSU Announcements on Nov. 22, 2013.

The Humanities Planning Group has several speakers and events planned for January and is in the process of applying for approval from the WSU Faculty Senate to become a formal academic center, said Hanly. The Collaborative Research Project is just one part of the Humanities Planning Group’s plan to create an Academic Center for the Humanities at WSU, he said.

“The Planning Group has been working together since the fall semester of 2011, when it received the generous support of President Elson Floyd in the form of seed money for the endeavor,” Hanly said.

The proposed Academic Center for the Humanities would generate funds from organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities, the MacArthur Foundation, and the Gates’ Foundation, Hanly said. He said the center would support research done by WSU faculty and graduate students through grants and fellowships.

“I am excited by seeing other vibrant, influential centers, and thinking we can do the same for the faculty and students of WSU,” Hanly said.