The John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (FHI) has appointed Joseph McNicholas as Director of Research Opportunities, beginning November 14, 2016. This newly created position will focus on pre-award administrative and programmatic facets of large-scale interdisciplinary humanities sponsored research activities related to the FHI. McNicholas will play a key role in supporting and coordinating complex proposal projects across Duke University’s Humanities, Arts, and Interpretive Social Science departments, including collaborative opportunities with other schools, University Institutes, and units at Duke and beyond.
“Duke humanities faculty have had an extraordinary record in securing major foundation awards,” said Deborah Jenson, Director of the FHI. “As the humanities have become more interdisciplinary and collaborative, a new horizon of federal and other external opportunities is also coming into view. We are advancing toward a goal of sustaining and increasing ambitious and successful humanities research at FHI.” The new position was created with the support of Duke’s Provost, Sally Kornbluth.
As FHI Director of Research Opportunities, McNicholas’s responsibilities will include identifying opportunities and working closely with humanities faculty in organizing, integrating, managing, and submitting new interdisciplinary humanities research proposals. He will also help faculty to strategize about funding sources and to frame research in the context of agency priorities and needs.
McNicholas brings 15 years of experience in higher education to the FHI. During that time, he has been responsible for more than $75 million in awards and worked in Faculty Development, Government and Foundation Relations, and Research and Sponsored Projects. Joseph’s most recent publications focus on his work as an innovative administrator including a co-authored piece in the Council for Undergraduate Research Quarterly on Creative Funding Strategies.
McNicholas earned a Ph.D. at the University of Texas, Austin in American Literature, completing his dissertation on “Corporate Culture and the American Novel.” He has also earned an M.B.A. in Finance at the University of Redlands. He has recently relocated to the Research Triangle from Southern California.
Originally posted on the Franklin Humanities Institute website