Caroline Marshall Draughon Center receives grant for ‘Dialogues on the Experience of War’

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The National Endowment for the Humanities, through its new Dialogues on the Experience of War grant program, has awarded a $74,127 grant to the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University. The grant will fund six reading-discussion programs in communities across Alabama, as well as two semester-length courses offered in the state's correctional facilities.

The Dialogues on the Experience of War grant program is a part of the Standing Together initiative, which emphasizes the innovative ways in which the humanities can engage military veterans and communities.

"There is a pressing need for community programs that bring veterans and non-veterans together in conversation," said National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman William Adams. "NEH's Dialogues on the Experience of War grants will allow veterans and community members to explore together the experiences of war using humanities texts as the means of deeper understanding."

The six Alabama communities that will participate are Auburn, Collinsville, Ozark, Phenix City, Valley and Wetumpka. The two semester-length courses offered in state correctional facilities will be coordinated by the Alabama Prison Arts and Education Project at Auburn University. Each discussion will be based on a different genre – fiction, memoir and film – on World War One and the Vietnam War.

"Receiving a grant like this is a very prestigious award," said College of Liberal Arts Dean Joseph Aistrup. "We look forward to implementing these programs and working with our community partners."

Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at www.neh.gov.

The Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts and Humanities strengthens the bonds between the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts and the public by creating and implementing arts and humanities programs that explore our individual and collective experiences, values and identities through the past, in the present and for the future. Based on the extension ideal of our land-grant institution, the center was established by Auburn University in 1985 to develop and offer programming in Alabama schools, towns, and communities. For more information about the Draughon Center, visit www.auburn.edu/cah.

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