On Thursday, April 23, National Humanities Alliance Vice President and American Council of Learned Societies President, Pauline Yu, testified before the House Interior, Environment, & Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee for increased funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities. Ms. Yu urged the Subcommittee to provide the National Endowment for the Humanities with funding of at least $230 million in Fiscal Year 2010, including an additional $50 million for competitive grant programs and $25 million for operating grants to state humanities councils, over the FY 2009 enacted level.
She cited the value of the humanities to our nation’s long-term economic well-being, and to our continued status as a world leader. She highlighted the demand for humanities grants by explaining how in FY 2008, applications for NEH grants in all programs represented $421 million in requested funds, more than three times the program dollars obligated for that year. At the national level, only 16% of competitive, peer-reviewed project proposals were funded, compared to a 26% funding rate for merit-reviewed projects at the National Science Foundation (an agency similar to NEH in its connection to higher education and its mission to strengthen education and research at all levels in its sector).
She further described how new funding for NEH would allow for the agency to provide targeted leadership in the areas of humanities data collection and support for graduate education in the humanities. International education and digital humanities were listed as additional areas where new funding would be useful.
Chairman Norm Dicks (WA-6) and Ranking Member Mike Simpson (ID-2) expressed gratitude for Ms. Yu’s testimony and support for the humanities.
The National Humanities Alliance’s written testimony is available here.
