Faculty Grants
The Benson Center funds research and educational initiatives that contribute to critical reflection on the development of Western civilization. Although funding is open to any faculty at CU Boulder, special consideration is given to faculty fellows, and those who have a demonstrated interest in the study of Western Civ through participation at Center events. Faculty interested in applying for grants should consider applying as faculty fellows, which is a year-long appointment to participate in Center programming and includes a $4,000 stipend.
Faculty grants are awarded three times throughout the academic year. The deadlines to apply are September 1, December 1, and March 1. Faculty with off-cycle requests should email BensonCenter@colorado.edu. Recipients of funding are asked to acknowledge the Center in event advertising and submit a brief online report no later than 1 month after the conclusion of the activity. The reports help the Center attract donor funding for future faculty grants.
We are particularly interested in funding initiatives of the following kinds:
- Scholarly Lecturers
- Public Lectures
- Conferences
- Educational Initiatives
- Outreach visits to local schools, retirement communities, etc.
- Funding for students you’re working with
- Research funds or course buyouts
Other sorts of initiatives may also be eligible, but we do not fund faculty travel to other places.
Applications should consist of the following materials:
- The mandatory application form (available here);
- A narrative explaining the proposal;
- A concise budget;
- Information (a short CV, for instance) about visiting speakers (if any), including preliminary visit dates
All of this information should be submitted via email to BensonCenter@colorado.edu. We prefer, if possible, that you submit all of the elements of the application as a single .pdf document, with the pages ordered according to the above list.
There are three rounds of grants each year, with the following deadlines:
- September 1
- December 1
- March 1
If there is an urgent need for a funding decision prior to a deadline, please request off-cycle consideration in the application.
Would-be applicants should feel free to consult with the Center director in advance about the feasibility of their proposal.
Faculty grants require a brief report upon the conclusion of the activity. Reports should also include any marketing and hopefully a good photo or two from the event. Please click here to
During the 2023–24 academic year, the Benson Center has awarded 5 faculty grants totaling $8,173.
| 2023-24 Grantee | Home Department | Amount Awarded | In Support of | Date of event |
| Peter Hunt | Classics | $973 | Dr. Hunt's research as an Athenian social historian | October 16, 2023 |
| Brian Catlos | Religious Studies | $1,000 | Support for the CU Mediterranean Studies Group | Ongoing support |
| Zachary Herz | Classics | $4,000 | Book workshop for manuscript of "The God and the Bureaucrat: A Story of Roman Law." | Ongoing support |
| Carole Newlands | Classics | $1,000 | Lecture by Prof. V. Panoussi on the CU Boulder campus | March 3, 2024 |
| Jackie Elliott | Classics | $1,200 | Prof. H. Gardner lecture: "Art will get us through it: plague and poetry from Vergil's bees to Emily St. John Mandel's Station Eleven." | January 19, 2024 |
| 2022-23 Grantee | Home Department | Amount Awarded | In Support of | Date of event |
| Michaele Ferguson | Political Science | $1,378.58 | Prof. Frost lecture on the CU Boulder campus | October 14, 2022 |
| Brian Catlos | Religious Studies | $5,000 | Support for the "Mediterranean Origins of the West" | October 21 & 22, 2022 |
| David Boonin | Philosophy | $1,500 | Colorado Ethics Bowl | January 28, 2023 |
| Celine Dauverd | History | $2,000 | Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies (ASPHS) conference | May 19 - 21, 2023 |
| Mitzi Lee | Philosophy | $868 | Rocky Mountain Philosophy Conference | April 16-18, 2023 |
| 2021-22 Grantee | Home Department | Amount Awarded | In Support of | Date of event |
| Benjamin Hale | Philosophy and Environmental Studies | $2,750 | Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress | August 12-15, 2021 |
| Brian Catlos | Religious Studies | $5,000 | Support for the CU Mediterranean Studies Group | Ongoing support |
| David Boonin | Philosophy | $750 | Colorado Ethics Bowl | February 15, 2022 |
| Philosophy Department | Philosophy | $1,000 | Editorial assistance by Dawn Jacob to help complete the last volume of Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy | March 8, 2022 |
| 2020-21 Grantee | Home Department | Amount Awarded | In Support of | Date of event |
| Benjamin Hale | Philosophy and Environmental Studies | $2,750 | Rocky Mountain Ethics Congress | August 12-15, 2021 |
| David Boonin | Philosophy | $791.84 | Colorado Ethics Bowl |
| 2019-20 Grantee | Home Department | Amount Awarded | In Support of | Date of event |
| Carole Newlands | Classics | $697 | Support for Michael Roberts' lecture and related events | October 15-18, 2019 |
| Jackie Elliott | Classics | $760 | Support for David Levene's campus lecture and related events | September 16, 2019 |
| Janice Ho | English | $1,500 | Support for Prof. Walter Cohen's campus lecture and related events | April 20, 2020 |
| Jillian Porter | Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures | $573 | Support for Dr. Deborah Martinsen's campus lecture and related events | November 1, 2019 |
| Kathryn Goldfarb | Anthropology | $1,500 | Support for a spring 2020 pedagogy workshop at CU Boulder | March 1-April 1, 2020 |
| Lauren Stone | Germanic & Slavic Languages & Cultures | $500 | Support for Critical Theory Speaker Event | October 9-12, 2020 |
| Lauri Reitzammer | Classics | $750 | Support for Prof. Jessica Lamont's campus lecture and related events | April 9, 2020 |
| Nabil Echchaibi | Media Studies | $2,000 | Support for Dr. Ann Laura Stoler's campus lecture | January 8-11, 2020 |
| Peter Hunt | Classics | $550 | Support for Prof. Jessica Lamont's campus lecture and related events | December 11-14, 2019 |
| Ramesh Mallipeddi | English | $1,000 | Support for George Bouluokos' campus lecture and related events | November 12, 2019 |
| Robert Rupert | Philosophy | $1,000 | Support for Jennifer Matey's extended visit while she is on sabbatical | November 19-31, 2019 |
| Ross Taylor | Journalism and College of Media, Communication and Information | $1,090 | Support film festival entries for "The Hardest Day" canine euthanasia documentary | N/A |
| Sarah James | Classics | $750 | Support for Dr. Sarah Levin-Richardson's campus lecture and related events | January 31- February 1, 2020 |
| Fernando Loffredo | Art History | $750 | Support for Prof. Enrico Parlato's lecture: “Venice between East and West: Shaping Pietro Aretino's Controversial Persona” | December 5-10, 2019 |
| Michaele Ferguson | Political Science | $1,025 | Support for Sarah Rushing's lecture: Bodies and Politics: How Vulnerability Informs Citizen Subjectivity" | November 13-15, 2019 |
| Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies | Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies | $4,500 | Annual Events | Ongoing Support |
| Zachary Herz | Classics | $700 | Support for Carlos Noreña public lecture on statecraft in classical Rome and Han China | February 16-18, 2020 |
| Arne Hoecker | Germanic & Slavic | $3,000 | Symposium on "the return of the real" in contemporary European fiction | May 14-17, 2020 |
| Scott Powell | Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought | $2,000 | Annual Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought “Great Debate”, this year asking the question, “What is ‘Personhood’ in the Age of Artificial Intelligence?” | January 31, 2020 |
| Penelope Kelsey | English | $2,243 | Bringing Native American filmmaker Terry Jones to CU to screen his film | February-March 2020 |
| Robert Rupert | Philosophy | $400 | Support campus visit by Eric Schwitzgebel | March 12-14, 2020 |
| Carole Newlands | Classics | $700 | Support lecture by Celia Schultz ""Fulvia and the Perugian War" | March 4-6, 2020 |
| Celine Dauverd | History | $1,686 | Support to bring Professor Alejandra Osorio on campus for lecture | January 14-15, 2020 |
| Fernando Loffredo | Art History | $975 | Support for author and Professor Katharina Piechoki and related events | March 16, 2020 |
| Graham Oddie | Philosophy | $1,000 | A two-day workshop/ conference on the value of reason, both theoretical reason and practical reason | March 14-15, 2020 |
| Suzanne Magnanini | French and Italian | $1,526 | Support for Professor Guido Ruggiero from the University of Chicago to present and meet with students | N/A |
| 2018-19 Grantee | Home Department | Amount Awarded | In Support of | Date of event |
| Núria Silleras-Fernández | Spanish and Portuguese | $1,000 | Support for Prof Sol Miguel-Prendes' lecture and related events | October 17, 2018 |
| Atreyee Bhattacharya | Environmental Studies | $1,000 | Support for GEA Symposium | N/A |
| Jerry K. Jacka | Anthropology | $1,500 | Support for Dr. Sarah Vaughn's campus lecture and related events | September 28, 2018 |
| David Shneer | Religious Studies | $800 | Support for Dr. Kecia Ali's campus lecture and related events | September 13, 2018 |
| Jackie Elliott | Classics | $1,000 | Support for campus visit of John Marincola | Spring 2019 |
| Sue Zemka | English | $1,000 | Support for the visit of Colin Dayan | October 12, 2018 |
| Hope Clark Saska | CU Art Museum | $1,000 | Support for William Fox's campus lecture and related events | February 8, 2019 |
| N/A | Mediterranean Studies | $5,000 | Support for annual department Event | N/A |
| David Shneer | Religious Studies | $3,000 | Archive Transformed Collaborative Residency (AT) | May 1, 2019 |
| Mark Leiderman | Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures | $900 | Support for Stanislav Lvovsky lecture on contemporary 91Ƭn poetry | February 17-20, 2019 |
| Scott Powell | Aquinas Institute | $1,000 | Annual Great Debate Event | February 8, 2019 |
| Carole Newlands | N/A | $750 | Support for visit of Emily Gowers | February 25, 2019 |
| Cheryl Higashida | English | $3,000 | Support for lecture: "Development and Underdevelopment in the Global South: Histories, Forms, Alternatives." | April 5, 2019 |
| Lauren Stone | Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures | $400 | Support for Critical Theory Event | February 20-22, 2019 |
| Isabel Koster | Classics | $700 | Support for Andrew Riggsby lecture "The Gender of Roman Banking" | April 1, 2019 |
| Tamara Meneghini | Theatre & Dance | $2,500 | Support for Galt MacDermot Celebration, "Let the Sunshine In" | April 19-20, 2019 |
| Celine Dauverd | History | $1,500 | Support for Pierre Savy's Visit | April 29, 2019 |
| David Boonin | Philosophy | $950 | 2019-20 Ethics Bowl | N/A |
| Taylor Jaworski | Economics | $1,000 | VSCTP Event | N/A |
| Mi-Kyoung Lee | Philosophy | $400 | Support for a Visit from Rachel Barney | N/A |