Introduction: Humanistic Pedagogy Across the Disciplines—Approaches to Mass Atrocity Education in the Community College Context

Abstract

In the decades following the Holocaust, we find educators at all levels and of a variety of subjects faced with a future without firsthand witnesses and a diverse student body without personal or conceptual connection to the Holocaust, genocide, or mass atrocity. This chapter explores how, where, when, and why to teach these subjects within and beyond the community college context. It ties the volume’s chapters to Montaigne’s notion of the “Essais,” as “attempts” or “trials.” These chapters describe and document a process undertaken by a community college, a Holocaust center, a faculty, and a student body—under the auspices of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant—to explore the efficacy of profound humanities content in the general education curriculum across the disciplines.

Appendix: Sample Colloquium RFP for Academic Year 2018–2019

The KHC requests proposals for the NEH Scholar-in-Residence Program that provides a year of support for an instructional staff member at QCC to design a year-long series of activities united by a common theme relating to Holocaust, genocide, and mass atrocity.⁵ The program budget will support course relief, summer funding, and a significant budget for guest speakers, events, and materials. While the In-Residence program can be shaped to individual faculty members’ skills and interests, the resulting activities should be public, ongoing, interdisciplinary, and student-centered.

Proposed activities could include, but are not limited to, the hosting or development of the following:

• Seminars

• Guest lectures

• Exhibitions

• Films

• Curriculum development

• Professional workshops for community college faculty

• Conferences

In-Residence proposals should build upon existing KHC programs involving survivors, students, faculty, community members, KHC resources, and/or propose the acquisition or creation of new resources such as an artistic or historical exhibit. Proposers are encouraged to review the website of the KHC at http://khc.qcc.cuny.edu for information about past, present, and upcoming programs, collections, and resources.

For the 2018–2019 year, the KHC is especially interested in In-Residence proposals that touch upon the following planned exhibits and ongoing initiatives:

• Genocide at home and abroad

• The reemerging nexus of nationalism, antisemitism , and other forms of hate

• Restorative justice, reparations, and rebuilding communities

• The Holocaust in Italy and across the Mediterranean

Interested faculty should contact the KHC Executive Director. As in the past, proposals will be solicited, received, and appraised by an external review committee, which will consist of a minimum of three members, one being a Holocaust scholar and another being a community college faculty member or academic administrator (current or former). In addition to program content, proposals will be ranked according to their assessment design and their level of pedagogical innovation.

Project Description

Your Project Description should not exceed five single-spaced pages. If there are two or more Applicants/Scholars, please include an additional page containing a Project Management Plan describing how the incumbents will divide up the work load. The Project Description should describe the specific roles and responsibilities of each participating faculty member as well as plans for regular communication and coordination among project team members and with the KHC.

Your Project Description should include each of the following:

• 1. Description of theme and intellectual rationale

• 2. Relevance to the mission of the KHC and to the annual themes listed on the announcement

• 3. List and description of proposed events/programs along with proposed dates/months

• 4. How the proposed project will integrate KHC Resources into QCC Academic Programs

• 5. Description of how the project will impact multiple disciplines and reach students from across campus

• 6. Planned publication, curriculum development, dissemination plans, and/or project deliverables

• 7. Evaluation plan with measurable outcomes

• 8. Budget (with narrative explanations)

Biographical Summaries

Please include a biographical summary for all applicant(s), not to exceed two pages each. All summaries must include information on the faculty member’s educational background, publications, classes taught, and other relevant professional activities in the format specified in the application forms.

Letters of Support

Please feel free to include any letters of support you may have for your project idea from colleagues, department chairs, or external partners.

Application Submission and Deadline

Complete applications should be submitted via e-mail to the Executive Director of the KHC. Complete applications will consist of the following:

• PDF file containing narrative sections of the proposal (Project Description, Budget, and Biographical Summaries)

• Excel file containing completed Budget Form

• Any additional materials such as Letters of Support, e-mailed as a scanned PDF file

Budget

A total of $45,000 is available.⁶ Please note the following sample of allowable budgetary expenses:

• Faculty release time

• Faculty summer salary and fringe benefits on summer salary

• Honoraria for guest speakers and performers

• Travel costs for guest speakers

• Travel costs for faculty coordinator

• Materials for seminar participants (books and duplicated materials)

• Archival acquisitions (books, archival materials, and digital humanities resources)

Proposals may not include funds to pay for support staff, so the NEH Scholar-in-Residence applicants should carefully consider associated administrative tasks and how they will be handled. Funds cannot be used for lobbying or any type of political advocacy, nor can they be used for food/refreshments. Further, any outside organizations that become involved in the project should not be involved in political advocacy.

No full-time faculty may request more than one month of summer salary.

Please note that any archival acquisitions purchased with fund moneys must be stored at the KHC and will remain the property of QCC and the KHC after the completion of your program. (If relevant, costs associated with any necessary preservation and archival processing should be included in the budget.)

You may include other costs that do not fit in the categories included in the Budget Form. Please be aware that some types of costs, including the aforementioned support staff and food, are not eligible. Please contact the KHC Executive Director with questions regarding eligible versus non-eligible costs.

To whatever extent possible, please also itemize all costs within the narrative of your proposal. Provide a basis for calculation of your estimate.

Evaluation Criteria

• Does the applicant and/or co-applicant(s) have expertise in one or more humanities disciplines or approaches?

• To what extent is the proposed topic relevant to the mission, materials, holdings, and/or programs of the KHC?

• To what extent will the proposed topic serve to involve a variety of the humanities disciplines?

• To what extent is the proposed project student-focused? Will it impact a broad community of students across the QCC campus (particularly within the humanities)?

• To what extent do the proposed activities integrate the KHC and the humanities at QCC? (e.g., the number of faculty/courses involved, KHC resources utilized)

• What will be the quality and scope of any curricula/instructional materials to be produced within the year, and how will they be disseminated to QCC faculty and students, as well as the broader public?

• How confident are you that the project team will be able to carry out the proposed work?

• How clearly does the proposal articulate a plan for capturing and measuring the impacts of the program—through either assessing student learning or evaluating the program’s quality/effects?

• Are the proposed timeline and budget reasonable and appropriate?

This opportunity is made possible by the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities Challenge Grant for Two-Year Colleges and the fundraising efforts of the Harriet & Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center at Queensborough Community College.