KU English professors awarded NEH grant for 2025 AI, digital literacy institute
LAWRENCE — Two University of Kansas researchers have been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to teach critical artificial intelligence literacy to secondary and higher education humanities instructors.
Kathryn Conrad and Sean Kamperman received an NEH Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grant for $218,732 to fund their project, AI & Digital Literacy: Toward an Inclusive and Empowering Teaching Practice, an in-person institute administered in partnership with the National Humanities Center, in June 2025.
KU is one of only four institutions to receive this highly competitive grant in 2024.
Conrad and Kamperman's institute will help humanities instructors share concerns and think through solutions to meet the challenges posed by rapidly evolving and increasingly accessible AI-based technologies.
The AIDL Institute falls under the NEH’s Humanities Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence initiative, launched October 2023 to support “projects that seek to understand and address the ethical, legal and societal implications of AI.”
“We are honored and excited to be part of this NEH initiative,” Conrad said. “We believe that it is especially important to offer financial support and time for teachers to think critically about generative AI.”
The institute builds on the successful AIDL Institute that Conrad and Kamperman organized with their NHC partners in June 2024 for Kansas City and regional educators, supported by the Hall Family Foundation and the William T. Kemper Foundation – Commerce Bank, Trustees. The 2025 institute will bring together a diverse group of educators from across the country to explore the ethical, social and pedagogical dimensions of AI in the humanities. Chosen participants will engage in hands-on workshops, seminars and discussions led by experts in the field.
“Most institutes focus on either a K-12 or higher ed audience, not both,” Kamperman said. “Participants will have the rare opportunity to see how AI is impacting the education system as a whole. We believe bridging the gap between secondary and higher ed is critical for meeting the challenge of AI.”
For more information about the AI & Digital Literacy: Toward an Inclusive and Empowering Teaching Practice institute, please contact Kathryn Conrad at kconrad@ku.edu.
About the National Endowment for the Humanities
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is a federal agency that supports research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH Institutes for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities grants support national or regional training programs for scholars, humanities professionals, and advanced graduate students to broaden and extend their knowledge of digital humanities.