The Henry Luce Foundation has granted $250,000 for the implementation phase of Global Asias: Pathways & Opportunities in Scholarship, Museums, Libraries & Communities, a transformational initiative at the University of Washington. The project will begin its work on July 1, 2026 and will be developed over three years.

We are excited to share that the University of Washington has been awarded a grant from the Mellon Foundation to support a Sawyer Seminar focused on rethinking academic freedom, democracy, and the university through Indigenous and decolonial approaches to knowledge, art, and institutional governance.

The Simpson Center for the Humanities announces our Society of Scholars Fellowship and Collaborative Project awards for 2026-2027 after receiving many strong proposals from University of Washington faculty and graduate students during our most recent funding round.

Congratulations to our award recipients and our warm thanks to all who applied.

Society of Scholars Fellowships

Vanessa Freije (Associate Professor, Jackson School of International Studies)

The Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities is delighted to announce the appointment of Lynn M. Thomas as its next director, commencing in the Fall Quarter of 2025. Professor Thomas succeeds Kathleen Woodward, whose transformative leadership shaped 25 years of humanities research and collaboration at the Simpson Center.

The Simpson Center for the Humanities announces our Collaborative Project, Faculty Writing Group and Retreat, and Graduate Research Cluster awards for 2025-2026 after receiving many strong proposals from University of Washington faculty and graduate students during our most recent funding round.

Established in 2021, in the midst of the global pandemic, the Faculty Summer Fellowship program at the Simpson Center for the Humanities has to date supported 45 faculty from all ranks and from across the humanities and social sciences at the University of Washington. The fellowships offer targeted research support to UW tenure-track faculty as they complete scholarly projects along the promotional ladder within their academic departments.

The Simpson Center for the Humanities stands in support of the enduring and essential value of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Applications to the 2025 LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop will be accepted from January 1-April 1. The Simpson Center will cover the application fees of all UW doctoral students in the arts, humanities, and social sciences who apply to the LA Review of Books Publishing Workshop and the tuition costs of a small number of UW doctoral students accepted into the program, which will be held entirely online from June 23-July 25, 2025.