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Mercy University has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support faculty of the School of Liberal Arts in their efforts to reshape general education History survey classes. The $147,610 Humanities Initiatives grant was awarded to Dr. Maureen MacLeod, associate professor and Dr. Caitlin Wiesner, assistant professor, to implement a three-year curricular and faculty development program to reshape general-education history survey classes, creating twenty new thematic global history courses. 

"This grant is a step in the right direction for adopting more equity-minded pedagogical practices,” said Dr. MacLeod. “When applying for this grant, Dr. Wiesner and I aimed to find ways to better engage students with a more diverse range of topics that would inspire them to become more active learners.”

 “I am thrilled to partner with Dr. MacLeod in directing ‘Global Horizons: Reimagining and Reinvigorating the History Survey,’” said Dr. Wiesner. “This grant will support our full time and part time faculty as they create exciting new courses that showcase their subject-area expertise and lay a robust foundation in historical methodology for Mercy’s first- and second-year students.”

With the NEH grant, Dr. MacLeod and Dr. Wiesner seek to transform the traditional history survey by developing courses that integrate new technology, enhance students’ written communication skills, and explore a wider array of diverse perspectives.

This is the second major NEH grant secured by Dr. MacLeod and the School of Liberal Arts over the past year, the first being the Humanities Connections Grant, which aims to develop a "Scientific Humanities" pathway within General Education through the Humanities to better engage and enhance the experience of science and health majors. This planning grant supports a team of faculty working to map out this pathway and create a series of scientifically minded, humanities-based courses. “Our goal is to inspire science and health majors to find excitement and value in the humanities courses they take as part of their General Education experience," added Dr. MacLeod.

The NEH supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Mercy’s program was one of 219 exemplary projects nationwide selected by the NEH to receive a grant. For more information on this most recent grant award, see press release