ACLS Project Grants for HBCU Faculty

The ACLS Project Grants for HBCU Faculty provide up to $10,000 to support early-stage project design and development over a 12- to 15-month period. This funding facilitates exploratory research and the advancement of existing projects, while offering networking and mentorship opportunities. Applicants must be employed at an HBCU and possess an MA or PhD in humanities or social sciences. The initiative encourages innovative research methods and community engagement, with a focus on higher education outcomes.

Summary
The American Council of Learned Societies invites applications for the 2025-26 ACLS Project Grants for HBCU Faculty. The grants of up to $10,000 support early-stage project design as well as smaller-scale project development that can be completed within the 12- to 15-month award tenure. These grants may be used to complete exploratory research, advance an existing or established project to its next stage of development, and/or serve as a formative next step for future funding opportunities. In addition to the grant stipend, awardees will have access to networking and mentorship opportunities that align with their scholarly goals and institutional circumstances.
This fellowship opportunity is part of the ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship and Grant Program, which offers both project grants and longer-term fellowships to HBCU faculty.
Award Outcomes
The applicant’s goal should be to pilot and/or substantially develop a research-grounded project during the term of the award. Possible project outcomes include, but are not limited to, contributions to the development of one or more of the following: monographs, scholarly articles, conference papers, book chapters, or book on a topic in the humanities or social sciences and/or teaching and learning in those disciplines; pedagogical tools that make meaningful connections between a scholar’s research and teaching; works that bridge scholarly and creative practice; and community-engaged projects grounded in scholarly research but geared toward a public audience.
The examples above are by no means exhaustive. ACLS seeks to advance diverse forms of research as well as innovative forms and modes of publication. The program welcomes digital, collaborative, and publicly and community engaged approaches to scholarship. The program also welcomes proposals from HBCU faculty that engage with scholars from other institutions, disciplines, or organizations outside of the academy.
Projects with pedagogical or curricular outcomes must focus on a postsecondary context.
Use of Grant Funds
The strongest applications will show evidence of thoughtful plans for engaging the sources, resources, scholars, and communities – on campus and/or off – necessary to advance their projects.
Fellows might use grant funds for:

• Funds for research (e.g., train research assistants, pay research participants, learn new methods, travel to libraries and archives, pay for reproductions).
• Support to integrate research and pedagogy/teaching and learning, such as action research projects or Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the classroom.
• Travel costs and registration fees for research and conferences; costs associated with organizing a workshop or event related to the project.
• Course releases.
• Writing and editorial assistant to advance work to publication, or other fees related to publication or dissemination of research.
• Collaborations across institutions, both among HBCUs and other universities.
• Interdisciplinary collaborations with colleagues across fields with similar research agendas.
• Support for civic engagement and/or social justice work with surrounding communities.

We understand that no two projects require the same type of support and, as such, this list is by no means comprehensive. Applicants are encouraged to think about the specific needs of their project, as well as the roadblocks to project outcomes. Award funds may be used for anything that is necessary to advance the project.
Funding
Up to $10,000 grants to be used for any activities that advance the proposed project, including (but not limited to) course releases, travel to collections or conferences, research and editorial support, and child- or eldercare support that enables project engagement.
Each project grant comes with an additional grant of $2,500 to the awardee’s home institution to support humanities programming or infrastructure.
Applicants who advance to the finalist round of review will receive a $500 grant to support their research, in addition to access to project and proposal development workshops in the following year.

Eligibility

Applicants must:Be employed primarily as instructors at an institution designated as an Historically Black College or University.Please consult this list to determine whether your institution is eligible. Applicants do not need to be appointed full time and do not need to be on the tenure track. Part-time and adjunct instructors are welcome to apply. All awardees must remain employed at an accredited HBCU for the duration of the award term.
Have an MA or PhD in the humanities or related social sciences that was conferred by the application deadline.
Agree to take part in occasional networking, project development, and mentorship events during the course of the award term.Projects must:Address a topic in the humanities or social sciences and/or teaching and learning in those disciplines in a higher education setting.
Employ predominantly humanistic approaches and qualitative/interpretive methodologies.
Include original scholarly research.

Ineligibility

Projects focused on teaching and learning in a K-12 setting are not appropriate for this program.