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Stanly Community College has received a $25,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education Grant.

“Spotlight on Humanities in Higher Education supports humanities teaching and research projects that benefit underserved populations at small- to mid-sized colleges and universities. Thirty new Spotlight grants will fund an array of curriculum and program development projects, teaching resources, and community engagement efforts,” press release from the NEH stated.

This grant will allow the college to fund the conversion of 10 humanities courses currently using a purchased textbook/course materials to open educational resources (OER).

This will be a significant cost savings, netting thousands of dollars for students every year to spend on other expenses. These humanities courses are taken widely and are often the first courses students take in their program of study.

“We are excited to begin the course conversions and are extremely grateful to the NEH for their generous award,” said Lorri Barrier, department head for humanities at SCC. “We have been discussing this project for many years but never had the funds or personnel to complete the conversions.

“We will be working closely with our Center for Teaching and Learning to ensure the online courses are up to SCC’s quality standards and contain rich content that will make the courses self-sustainable for many years to come.”

The courses selected for conversion are Intro to Art, Art History II, Southern Culture, American Women’s Studies, Philosophical Issues, Creative Writing, World Religions, Intro to Old Testament, Elementary Spanish and Intermediate Spanish.