Through its partnership with institutional sponsors, the National Humanities Center delivers a variety of opportunities for humanities faculty and students to grow professionally and personally, sharpen their skills, and connect with others who share their passion for exploring the depths of human experience.
In continuation of this work, the Center is pleased to offer a new, curated lineup of professional development sessions designed to support humanities scholars in their research, teaching, and public engagement efforts. These webinars are free and open to all faculty at NHC-sponsoring institutions.
Sessions being offered as part of the inaugural series include:
August 26, 2025 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Insights into the NHC Fellowship Experience and Application Process
Martha M. F. Kelly, PhD, Vice President for Scholarly Programs, National Humanities Center
Martha Kelly, former NHC Fellow and current vice president for scholarly programs, will discuss the kinds of support and community scholars enjoy as residential fellows at the Center. She will also offer insights into the fellowship selection process and tips for assembling a successful application.
Prior to joining the staff of the Center, Martha was associate professor of Russian at the University of Missouri, where she was also founding director of the Interdisciplinary Migration Studies Institute.
September 11, 2025 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Grant Writing 101 for Humanities Faculty
Sylvia Miller, Director of Scholarly Publishing and Research Development, Duke University
In the current funding landscape, it is more challenging than ever to win funding for scholarly projects in the humanities. In this webinar, you will learn crucial grant writing techniques and come away with a checklist of dos and don’ts. You will also learn how to prevent some typical post-grant management problems, develop a practice of grantseeking, and use the proposal process to sharpen your own thinking and planning.
Sylvia Miller has 17 years of experience writing, editing, and managing grants in the humanities and interpretive social sciences and currently serves as a Research Navigator for Duke’s Office of Research and Innovation. Prior to moving to North Carolina, she worked in book publishing in New York as an executive editor at Scribner and a publishing director at Routledge, specializing in reference works in the humanities and social sciences.
November 13, 2025 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Copyright and Intellectual Property
Will Cross, Director of the Open Knowledge Center, North Carolina State University
Have you ever struggled with image permissions, wondered if you can use a particular text or video clip in a face-to-face or online course, or questioned the legality of posting the full text of a piece you authored online? Attendees of this session will:
- Understand the scope of the Fair Use Act in higher education
- Learn strategies for negotiating permissions with publishers
- Receive expert advice on intellectual property problems they have encountered in academia
Will Cross, who holds degrees in both law and library science, has been director of NC State’s Copyright and Digital Scholarship Center since 2011 and in this role works with faculty and students to ease their copyright woes. In addition to his work at NCSU, Will is a Senior Policy Fellow at American University’s Washington College of Law.
January 15, 2026 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Media Training for Academics
Don Solomon, Vice President for Communications and Marketing, National Humanities Center
Many academics struggle with the desire to share their expertise with mainstream audiences, worrying about how they and their work will be represented. In this session you’ll learn how to work with traditional media, including how to engage reporters and get them interested in your work, how to handle press inquiries, and how to make sure your version of the story gets written.
Don Solomon has over 30 years experience sharing stories about products, people, and organizations of all kinds, and since 2006 he has led communications and marketing at the National Humanities Center. Prior to joining the Center, Don was co-founder and principal of Distill Consulting, and has worked with a wide range of clients that includes Michelin, Hanes, IBM, Rhone Poulenc, CooperTools, and the March of Dimes, among others.
March 12, 2026 – 2:00 p.m. ET
Taking Ideas Public: A Scholar’s Guide to Trade Publishing
Blair LM Kelley, President and Director, National Humanities Center
Tanya McKinnon, Founder and Principal Agent, McKinnon Literary
Join us for a lively conversation on what is lost and gained when academics write for trade publishers. The webinar will feature literary agent and founder of McKinnon Literary, Tanya McKinnon, who for the last 19 years has helped authors bring their ideas to life and find their audience. Tanya will be in dialogue with NHC President and Director Blair LM Kelley to discuss the writing and publication process, and how authors can make the leap from university presses to trade.
Blair LM Kelley is president and director of the National Humanities Center. An award-winning author, historian, and scholar of the African American experience, her scholarship and social commentary have focused on African American social movements, segregation, and the Black working class. Before joining the NHC, she served as the Joel R. Williamson Distinguished Professor of Southern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and directed the Center for the Study of the American South. Previously, Kelley spent 20 years on the faculty and as an administrator at North Carolina State University, including as associate dean of interdisciplinary affairs and partnerships.
Tanya McKinnon is the founder and principal agent of McKinnon Literary. As a literary agent, she works to amplify progressive voices and help authors sharpen their projects regardless of genre. Having spent time on both sides of the agent-author relationship, she draws on this experience to bring a holistic perspective to the publishing industry and ensures her clients and their projects are handled with utmost care. McKinnon represents serious nonfiction, literary fiction, children’s books, and graphic novels. Several of McKinnon’s clients include New York Times best-sellers, winners of the National Book Award, the Pulitzer Prize, the Lambda Literary Award, the LA Times Book Award, the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, and many more.
April 16, 2026 — 2:00 p.m. ET
Introduction to Zotero
Joe Milillo, Director of the Library, National Humanities Center
Join Joe Milillo, head of the Center’s library staff, for a presentation on Zotero, a free, open source tool that allows users to collect and manage sources, write citations, and generate bibliographies. After completing this session, attendees will be able to
- Understand the layout of the Zotero interface
- Pull in bibliographic information about references in library catalogs and article databases
- Edit bibliographic information of references within Zotero
- Generate citations and bibliographies from Zotero references
Director of the Library Joe Milillo joined the National Humanities Center in 2016, bringing a varied background in the humanities, social sciences, and health information research. In his current role, Joe is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the library, drawing on his expertise in bibliographic research and his relationships with libraries around the world to procure over 12,000 resources each year for Fellows and other scholars.