Apply now for an ACLS Fellowship, supporting scholars in the humanities and social sciences! Awards of $30-60K + additional funding for independent scholars, adjunct faculty and faculty in teaching-intensive roles. Deadline Sept. 17, 5PM ET https://bit.ly/3Q0Oi5I

"The work of the humanities is not only worth defending, but necessary," says 2025 ACLS Fellow Udodiri Okwandu, whose research focuses on maternal health and racial inequity. Read how scholars are pushing forward despite attacks on their fields: bit.ly/4wHcI9y

Thrilled that "Expanding Queer Cartographies" has won a Digital Justice Development Grant from @acls1919.bsky.social! Our project will digitize & map thousands of women- and lesbian-friendly bars, restaurants, bookstores, etc. that appeared in the lesbian travel guide Gaia's Guide (1970s-1990s) +

Ahead of this weekend's release of The Odyssey, 2005 ACLS Fellow @emilyrcwilson.bsky.social talks with Esquire about the poem and its long-awaited film adaptation: https://bit.ly/4hfm9IT Christopher Nolan has cited Wilson's translation of the epic poem as one of his inspirations for the film.

At a moment when the humanities are under attack, ACLS President Joy Connolly argues that the American public values humanistic knowledge far more than critics suggest: https://bit.ly/4ylaTAV

"Skills developed by the humanities are vital for design, team dynamics, and considering the human perspective." bit.ly/4bGpHAa

Yesterday, ACLS submitted its comments on the proposed Regulation for Federal Financial Assistance to the Office of Management and Budget. Read the letter: https://bit.ly/44nWarc

AAUP, Texas AAUP-AFT Sue Texas Tech over Restrictive Course Content Policies: https://bit.ly/4ym25Ld

Announcing the 2026-27 ACLS fellowship and grant competitions! ACLS offers fellowships and grants that promote research and public engagement across all fields of the humanities and social sciences. Learn more about this year's competitions: https://bit.ly/4ydOG7H

Read the @oah.org statement on the White House Report, “Saving America’s Story”: https://bit.ly/4ye1tXE

Lead Program Officer Desiree Barron-Callaci has become increasingly convinced that the most valuable resource ACLS provides to many of our fellows is "fellowship time"—not just time to focus on individual research projects, but intentional, repeated engagement with community. https://bit.ly/4voOWOK

So thrilled to announce that the Community Histories Lab (co-directed by Marco Ramos and I) has been awarded a Digital Justice Seed Grant to build the People’s Health Archive of New Haven!

ACLS announces the recipients of the 2026 ACLS Digital Justice Grants. $800,000 in grants will fund community-led and publicly engaged digital projects across the US.

A new White House report accuses the Smithsonian of distorting American history. In an @npr.org interview, AHA Exec. Dir. Sarah Weicksel explains why the AHA disagrees, arguing that the report misunderstands historical interpretation and mischaracterizes the Smithsonian's work. Listen at link.

ACLS President Joy Connolly shares an update on our litigation to restore NEH grants and lessons learned about advocating for the humanities in today's ACLS Advocacy in Action update: bit.ly/4bdjnQw

ACLS announces new Luce/ACLS Civic Education for Democratic Life Program: bit.ly/4pi8MK8 This new two-year grant competition is designed to boost higher education’s contribution to civic thriving by strengthening community engagement projects hosted by colleges and universities across the US.

ACLS is pleased to share a select list of books published in 2026 by fellows and grantees, demonstrating the breadth of humanistic scholarship, from the politicized history of American media to the economics of the global opioid trade: bit.ly/4p7cSEz

Covers for the 1st books in our #OpenAccess series, Understanding Languages, Cultures & Societies, are now up on our website 😍 1st is Literature for Change: The Case for Literary Research Across Languages and Cultures, published w/ funding from @acls1919.bsky.social. uolpress.co.uk/book/literat...

"Toni at Random" by ACLS Board Secretary Dana A. Williams is featured in @latimes.com: "Toni Morrison wrote the real history of America. We’re just finally reading it" https://lat.ms/4fbhfLz

Whether you have one minute or one afternoon, here are 10 ways you can join us in the critical work of amplifying the humanities and social sciences: https://bit.ly/4eMAA4k

Martha S. Jones, 2013 ACLS Fellow, and Kate Masur, 2020 Charles A. Ryskamp Research Fellow, were cited in yesterday's SCOTUS ruling affirming birthright citizenship. https://bit.ly/3QU8ufE

The ruling in our lawsuit affirms that the NEH exists to serve the American people, free from political interference. ACLS will not yield in our pursuit of academic freedom, and we need your help. Please consider supporting us: https://bit.ly/4poc1if

What would it mean for a graduate program to treat its institutional context as a resource instead of a constraint? Learn how Cal Poly Humboldt's Applied Humanities BA is rejecting the false choice between humanistic inquiry and career readiness: https://bit.ly/49gBNiu

“I feel incredibly lucky, especially knowing how difficult it is for so many scholars to get funding to study LGBTQ rights issues right now.” Stony Brook University highlights the work of 2026 ACLS Fellow Joanna Wuest: https://bit.ly/4vBM023

ACLS will not yield in our fight for the humanities and academic freedom. We celebrate the ruling in our case to restore more than 1,200 NEH grants terminated by DOGE, but there is still work to be done and we need your help. Please consider supporting ACLS: https://bit.ly/4poc1if

Brilliant to see this new book out today as part of our ‘Critical Human Rights Studies’ series 🎉 Its publication was supported by prize money from our @acls1919.bsky.social #OpenAccess Book Prize and Arcadia OA Publishing Award, supporting high quality OA publishing 🏆 @sas-news.bsky.social

What is the PhD for? What are we actually preparing these students to do? Asking faculty to articulate the purpose of each program requirement opens up debates about program purpose that we have too long avoided. Read 5 insights from our Doctoral Futures town halls: https://bit.ly/4w41FXJ

Howard University philosopher Brandon Hogan shares his 2026 ACLS HBCU Faculty Fellowship project researching the constitutional, economic, and moral case for reparations: bit.ly/4xFBU1s

Read the latest article from Chloe E. Landen, 2026 ACLS Graduate Intern on the Spiritual Infrastructure of the Future with @rns.org: bit.ly/43JeT06

Advisor quality shapes the PhD experience more than almost anything else. So why do so few programs teach mentorship as a skill? Read our latest piece Doctoral Futures piece, "Mentorship Is Not Alchemy": bit.ly/4eg9QdF

Today, ACLS announced the inaugural Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Public Impact Grants in Buddhist Studies. This year, six grants of up to $50,000 each will support outstanding projects that will increase public understanding of Buddhist art, texts, and traditions: https://bit.ly/4a0ATqL

New book alert! "Cuban Tobacco in the Age of Second Slavery" by William A. Morgan, 2020 Mellon/ACLS Community College Faculty Fellow, explores the creation and development of tobacco as part of Cuba’s plantation economy and is out from @ugapress.bsky.social https://bit.ly/4xGIDbN

“I’ve always understood scholarship as a practice that emerges through conversation and community.” Meet 2026 Buddhism Public Scholar Nataly Shahaf, who will work with @tricyclemag.bsky.social starting this fall: https://bit.ly/3QzipXP

Watch ACLS President Joy Connolly share our vision for a "new academy," where faculty reward structures are reimagined, doctoral programs evolve, and knowledge connects people across disciplines, institutions, and public spaces: https://bit.ly/4ejxZi2

Bruce Springsteen called America "an ongoing, blessed, sacred argument." ACLS CFO Matthew Sapienza heard a case for the humanities. Read his reflection on the humanities, democracy, and how it all connects to finance: https://bit.ly/4ekIulf

In a @chronicle.com Letter to the Editor, ACLS President Joy Connolly responds to coverage of the new “State of Scholarship” report: www.chronicle.com/blogs/letter...

Court wins, new federal threats, state legislatures rewriting the rules on academic freedom, and ongoing culture-war debates. ACLS President Joy Connolly's advocacy update takes stock of where things stand and what we can do as attacks on humanistic knowledge continue: bit.ly/4omQiHZ

We join ACLS in firmly opposing this proposal. Political litmus tests must not replace peer review as certification of research quality.

ACLS has released a statement opposing the Office of Management and Budget’s proposal for new criteria and process for federal funding for scientific research. Read the full statement: bit.ly/4v2lbE0

Danielle Burke's 2026 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship is helping her build a digital map of craftspeople from the Handicraft Movement and invite the people who still have or use those handiworks today to contribute to the site: https://bit.ly/4uGPHTC

Marie Comuzzo @mariecomuzzo.bsky.social, 2025 Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellow, has a new chapter out in the book "Listening to the Swan Song: More-than-Human Beings and Sounds in Literature and Culture Through the Ages." Read it open access here: https://bit.ly/3RLzYnJ

The ACLS Strategic Framework 2025-2030 focuses on transforming academic culture, speaking out on behalf of humanistic inquiry, promoting excellent scholarship, and preparing for the unexpected. Explore our progress thus far: https://bit.ly/4dMOZhS

New book alert! "Disabled Empire: The Colonial Body in First World War Britain" by 2023 ACLS Fellow @hbuxton.bsky.social is out now from @uchicagopress.bsky.social

On the latest episode of the Drafting the Past podcast, @taramulder.bsky.social shares ancient Roman women's experiences of pregnancy and childbirth (and shares info on her next project, funded by a 2026 ACLS Fellowship 👀): https://bit.ly/4uiCNKy

The latest edition of Building Blocks for a New Academy is out today! In it, ACLS Program Manager Treviene Harris shares three innovative humanities undergraduate programs designed to serve students’ intellectual formation and their lives post-graduation: https://bit.ly/4o8hj1E

Happy #PrideMonth from ACLS! We asked members of the ACLS community to share resources on LGBTQ+ liberation consisting of existing research, published works, podcasts, and any other mediums. Check out the list here: https://bit.ly/3xb2Cll

ICYMI: Last week, we announced the 2026 ACLS Leading Edge Fellows 🎉 The fellowships support outstanding early-career PhDs in the humanities and social sciences as they join the work of mission-driven nonprofit organizations. Meet the awardees: bit.ly/4v5uqmg

We are pleased to announce the 2026 ACLS Leading Edge Fellows! In fall 2026, 14 fellows will begin two-year positions designed to take advantage of the numerous skills of PhD humanists while contributing to the work of host organizations. Learn more: https://bit.ly/4v5uqmg

ACLS announces the 2026 awardees of The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies: bit.ly/431tHqt More than $1.5 million awarded to advance Buddhist Studies research, teaching, and public engagement across three continents

"The problem is that most of the time, we treat the committee report as the culmination of months of meetings and discussions, when in fact a committee report should be an invitation: a beginning rather than an end." Read ACLS Program Officer Stacy Hartman's Message for May: bit.ly/4d8I0PP