The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded Cal State San Bernardino a grant for $99,725 as part of $1.5 million in grants to 17 institutions across the country. CSUSB was the only university awarded in California.
Under the direction of Jennifer Andersen, CSUSB professor of English, the grant will be used for the project, “From Ancient Greece to the Contemporary Middle East: Dialogues on the Experience of War.”
According to the NEH, these grants will fund discussion-based programs for veterans that will bring perspective and context to the experience of war through the study of literature, philosophy, history and other fields of the humanities.
Created in July 2015, NEH’s “Dialogues on the Experience of War” grant program is part of the Standing Together initiative, which emphasizes the innovative ways in which the humanities can engage military veterans and communities. “This is an exciting, new public humanities grant that aims to build community through discussion,” said Andersen.
The program will include readings, viewing and discussion on classical literature and the Greek-Trojan wars in dialogue with letters, articles, literature and documentaries about more recent conflicts. The discussions will take place at various sites throughout the Inland Empire.
As project director, Andersen will train eight discussion leaders during the summer and then coordinate about a dozen events each quarter beginning September 2016 through June 2017 on three campuses: CSUSB’s main campus, its Palm Desert Campus and San Bernardino Valley College.
Some of the discussion leaders at these meetings will be military veterans from throughout the Inland Empire, said Andersen.
“They will have the opportunity to reflect on their own service through discussions of sources in which past generations tell what they thought and felt about their experiences of war,” she said. “We will also host a few campus-wide events that will be open to all students and to the public.”
According to Andersen, the smaller group discussions will be primarily for military veterans, but may also include men and women in active service, military families, and interested members of the public. The larger events will include film and documentary screenings followed by panel discussions.
Andersen, who has been teaching at CSUSB for 20 years, explained that collaborating with the two other campuses, i.e., obtaining letters of support and a commitment from each entity, and with many people on and off-campus was critical to receiving the grant.
Terry Smith, professor and chair of CSUSB’s theatre arts department, committed to dedicate one theater production next academic year to a play that focuses on the experience of war. J.P. Whatford, a recent graduate of CSUSB’s English master’s program and now adjunct faculty member in the department, will be Andersen’s assistant project director.
Marci Daniels, CSUSB’s director of the Veterans Success Center, and Cathleen Lucas, in the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, were both instrumental in providing support from each of their respective areas.
Joe Notarangelo, professor of English at San Bernardino Valley College, committed to hold veterans’ events at his campus and has supported the project enthusiastically.
“Without the support of all these partners, this grant would not have been possible,” said Andersen.
Set in the foothills of the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains, CSUSB is a preeminent center of intellectual and cultural activity in inland Southern California. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2015-2016, CSUSB serves more than 20,000 students each year and graduates about 4,000 students annually.
For more information about Cal State San Bernardino, contact the university’s Office of Strategic Communication at (909) 537-5007 and visit news.csusb.edu.