The Gambling State University (GSU) Department of History has received $60,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) for a project titled “Voices of Grambling: Immersive Virtual-Reality Experiences.”

 

Project members include Dr. Edward Holt (PI), Dr. Brian McGowan, and Yanise Days. The project will also fund three student project team members and provide them with this experiential learning opportunity.

 

The GSU grant is part of a recent NEH announcement of $35.63 million in grants for 258 humanities projects across the country.

 

“This grant represents the third grant-funded phase of our Voices of Grambling project which seeks to preserve the African American experience in north Louisiana, with a particular focus on the history of Grambling and Grambling State University,” Holt said. “Phase III is a one-year program to create virtual reality experiences highlighting historic moments on Grambling [State’s] campus. To this end, we will have a lecture series and work with students to create a digital, historical Grambling.”

 

Holt said the project will provide equipment and experience to students working with cutting-edge digital technologies and trends and will provide a solid experiential learning opportunity to prepare GSU students for the jobs of the future through the study of the past.

 

“It is important to the university as it seeks to preserve the history of the university and create an archive for future study,” Holt said. “It connects what was going on at Grambling to important national trends that historic study has often discussed only in the context of other areas.”

 

This funding cycle includes the first round of awards made under NEH’s new Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education grant program. Developed as part of the agency’s American Tapestry: Weaving Together Past, Present, and Future initiative, Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education supports humanities teaching and research projects that benefit underserved populations at small- to mid-sized colleges and universities.

 

“These 258 newly funded projects demonstrate the vitality of the humanities across our nation,” said NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe. “NEH is proud to support exemplary education, preservation, media, research, and infrastructure projects that expand resources for Americans, support humanities programs and opportunities for underserved students and communities, and deepen our understanding of our history, culture, and society.”