Funding Opportunities

We have completed our funding of these projects in the Digital Bridges grant. This page is still available for informational purposes, but we are no longer seeking applications for these partnerships.

“This grant is noteworthy because it represents a true partnership across two sectors of higher education in which undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, librarians and technologists will use digital tools and methods to strengthen teaching and research in the humanities” ~ Eugene M. Tobin

Funding Objectives for Digital Bridges

The Andrew W. Mellon funded Digital Bridges initiative promoted experiments in collaboration among faculty and students at Grinnell College and The University of Iowa rooted in the team-based potential of the digital humanities. The larger purpose of the initiative was to explore imaginative ways for faculty, staff, and students at liberal arts colleges and research universities to build rich networks that enhance humanities teaching, learning, and research in the future. Opportunities provided by the grant were therefore designed to imagine, implement, and activate collaborations with the potential to deepen connections between our two institutions. Many of the options below also anticipated that Grinnell and University of Iowa students and faculty whose work supported digital scholarship and teaching would involve cross-institutional collaboration.

On Collaboration with Students: Involving students, especially undergraduates, in digital projects is one of the fastest-changing areas of curricular development at each of our institutions. Through the grant we sought to enhance programs that were already providing support and funding for undergraduates to work in collaboration with faculty mentors.

Purcell Rector and Hourcade at DBSI17Summer Collaborative Grants

Digital Bridges supported collaborative summer research teams of two to four Grinnell and University of Iowa faculty, which could include staff members or students. Projects that also engaged a community partner were welcomed.

Mapping Islamophobia teamPedagogy Grants

We provided faculty with time and support to develop new digital liberal arts courses or course modules that familiarized undergraduate students with new methods of inquiry and exploration. We were especially interested in courses that bridged the two institutions and courses in which undergraduate students engaged in collaborative research with faculty, staff, and other students.

Kang and Tsai Interest Groups

This year-long program allowed participants from Grinnell College and The University of Iowa to build a shared understanding of current theories, practices, and technologies that comprise the diverse field of digital humanities. Meeting space, structure, and discretionary funding was available for groups of faculty, digital humanities staff, and graduate students with a shared intellectual interest in an area of the digital liberal arts.

train tracksTravel Funding

As part of the Digital Bridges mission to develop faculty capacity in digital methods, we offered support for faculty travel in many ways.