Dianne Harris, dean of the College of Humanities at the University of Utah, is available to discuss the National Endowment for the Humanities and why it's vitally important to Americans in every city, suburb and rural community across the nation. Harris says, at a cost that is equivalent to one postage stamp per citizen each year, the NEH makes possible veterans study groups that help returned GI’s cope with PTSD and successfully transition back to civilian life through their Standing Together Initiative and The Warrior Scholar Project. They help make possible the education of low-income adults through their support of the Clemente Course in the Humanities and they improve childhood literacy through the Prime Time Family Reading Program. Partnering with the state humanities councils, they bring museum exhibits that document and help us understand our past to the farthest reaches of our states and to communities that would not otherwise have access, and that attract millions of visitors each year enhancing local economies. They fund K-12 teacher-education programs to improve the quality of instruction in our public schools, they support the preservation and access of our shared cultural heritage and they support research that creates the new knowledge we need to help us understand, sustain and create cultural life. For more than 50 years, the agency’s many grant-making initiatives and the programs they support have served as the backbone for our democracy’s educated body of citizens. Indeed, the NEH is crucial to the health of our democracy. It is among the most important federal agencies charged with educating and enhancing the lives of millions of Americans.

Harris is available for radio and print interviews.