The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia (CSEGA) has a unique research mission -- it is the only Appalachian Center in the country dedicated to studying and understanding the incredible diversity of the various Appalachian people.

The Rockefeller Foundation for the Humanities recognized the importance of this research in 1996 when it awarded the Center one of its prestigious scholars-in-residence grants. Marshall remains the only institution of higher education in the state of West Virginia to have ever received one of these grants. Our program at CSEGA provides fellowships for researchers who wish to study some aspect of gender and/or ethnicity in Appalachia. Scholars from across the nation have traveled to Marshall to conduct research on women banjo players, Italian coal miners, Latina textile workers, African-American Appalachian schoolteachers, Cherokee family heritage, black women activists in the coal fields, Appalachian sexual minorities, and women workers in the glass industry. In March 2000, CSEGA hosted a national conference on Marshall's campus where Rockefeller scholars, in addition to numerous other regional academics and community leaders, presented work related to ethnicity and gender in Appalachia.

In 2000, CSEGA was awarded a rare second grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to continue the outstanding work of scholars at the Center. As a result, research fellows will be present on campus through 2002. All CSEGA Rockefeller Scholar-in-Residence Fellows are selected by a highly competitive process involving two selection committees. An interdisciplinary committee of Marshall faculty first reviews all fellowship applications and subsequently convenes to select the most promising projects. These finalists are then passed on to members of an external review committee consisting of noted scholars and specialists from regional universities, who then make the final selection of the fellowship recipients.

The NEH Challenge Grant award is a singular honor for Marshall University, one of only four universities nationwide to receive such an award this year. This grant builds upon the prestigious Rockefeller Foundation for the Humanities Scholar-in-Residence award, twice granted to Marshall’s Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia.

The challenge is to raise $1.5 million to match the NEH contribution of $500,000. The first $150,000 must be raised by July 31, 2003. Gifts to the challenge grant will build an endowment to:

• Establish a Distinguished Chair in Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia to ensure multicultural awareness and growing recognition of our Appalachian heritage;
• Create three post-doctoral fellowships in Appalachian Ethnicity and Gender to offer research and graduate level teaching opportunities in the humanities for new Appalachian Ph.D. scholars; and
• Provide 20 scholarships for K-12 humanities teachers for the Summer Conference in Diversity in Appalachia.

This is an opportunity to support our Appalachian heritage, recognize the important role of women in our region, and acknowledge the contributions of ethnic minorities to Appalachia.

We invite you to help meet this challenge by making a gift payable to The Marshall University Foundation Inc., One John Marshall Drive, Huntington, WV 25755. Please designate your gift to the NEH Grant. Thank you!

View NEH Letter

View CESGA Brochure