Caldwell Receives National Endowment For the Humanities Grant for Social Justice Minor 

Jennifer Noonan, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Visual Art and Design, is the lead project director for the University’s new social justice minor

Caldwell University is creating a minor in social justice thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. 

The $35,000 award will provide for the social justice minor that will connect the humanities with the social sciences and professional fields, faculty team-taught interdisciplinary courses, and an experiential learning component.   A new social justice core course, that each student will be required to complete, will be anchored in the humanities.   

Jennifer Noonan, Ph.D., lead project director, professor of art history and chair of the Department of Visual Art and Design, said she and her colleagues were thrilled to learn of the award.    “The grant will foster faculty and staff collaboration and develop interdisciplinary, team-taught classes with project-based learning experiences that address issues of social justice and equity. All members of the Caldwell community will benefit while upholding the University’s mission.”

Rosa Sánchez, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish.  Domenic Maffei, Ph.D., professor of political science and chair of the History and Political Science and Modern Languages departments. 

Collaborating with Noonan are Domenic Maffei, Ph.D., professor of political science and chair of the History and Political Science and Modern Languages departments, and  Rosa Sánchez, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish,  along with Patricia Levins, Caldwell’s director of corporate, foundation and government relations. 

Faculty will develop curriculum and humanities teaching and learning resources around the theme “Embracing the Challenge of a More Perfect Union: a New Social Justice Minor” with several colleagues to explore topics such as “Literature of Medicine in America,” “Art and Chemistry: History of Materials, Environment Art, and the Impact of Resource Extraction,”  “In/Justice and Power of Prison Writing,” and “U.S. Policy Toward Latin America: Politics and Literature.” 

More about the National Endowment for the Humanities 

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov.

 This work has been made possible in part by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy Demands Wisdom. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities.