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
Copywriting 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.
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.