Bonnie Effros

Under my direction, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere at the University of Florida has sought to fulfill three interrelated purposes:

1. to facilitate and promote the research programs of humanities scholars at the University,

2. to provide an intellectual space and a physical location within the University and College for critical and collaborative discussions of the humanities that reach across and beyond individual disciplines, and

3. to provide a place for outreach through the humanities to the community in which we live and teach.

Building on the work of individual departments, the Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and critical discussion as its basic program models.

The newest addition to our activities in 2011, with support from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Office of Research, the Center launched grant-writing events in the humanities. Having offered two workshops on grant-writing during the past spring term, and one in the fall term, along with providing grant support and proposal review services, the Center has also expanded its website detailing:

• UF support for grant-writing,
  
  
• internal grant opportunities,
  
  
• external grant opportunities for faculty in the humanities,
  
  
• external grant opportunities for graduate students,
  
  
• grant opportunities in the digital humanities, and
  
  
• grant opportunities in the public humanities.

This academic year, in addition to offering general programs on grant-writing in the humanities, the Center will begin organizing several events focused on conducting humanities research at UF in and for a digital age.