UVI Awarded $60K Grant for V.I. History Courses Update

M.A. Dworkin

USVI - The University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) announced that it has been awarded a $60,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to update and revise two upper level courses in Caribbean and Virgin Islands history. The award is part of NEH’s recent announcement of $75.1 million in funding for 84 humanities projects nationwide.  

UVI is one of only two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) selected to receive an NEH award in this category this year, underscoring the University’s commitment to excellence in humanities education. The grant was awarded to UVI under the leadership of Dr. Molly Perry, principal investigator and associate professor of history and geography. 

The funding will support comprehensive updates to two critically important upper-level courses. HIS 341 Caribbean History and HIS 342 History of the Virgin Islands. These courses are required for most majors and are central to the UVI undergraduate experience. Both are courses that train teachers in the Virgin Islands public school system. 

“We’re thrilled to integrate new research, primary sources and experiential learning opportunities that reflect the dynamic cultural and historical heritage of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Caribbean,” said Dr. Perry. “With the support from the NEH, these course revisions will allow us to better connect our students, as well as educators and community members across the Territory, to lived historical experiences and community based learning.”

UVI President for Research and Economic Development, Dr. Richard Nader, added, “The award highlights the critical role federal funding plays in strengthening academic innovation at HBCUs like UVI. Congratulations to Dr. Perry on securing this highly competitive award that will ensure our faculty and students have the resources to preserve cultural heritage and expand access to humanities scholarship.”

This latest award builds on a series of NEH supported projects at UVI led by Dr. Perry since 2021 which have strengthened the University’s role in oral history collection and digital cultural preservation. Earlier NEH support was awarded to UVI through the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands (CFVI) via its Humanities grants program, providing funding for equipment purchases and curriculum development. 

Most notably, in 2023, Dr. Perry co-led an NEH Digital Humanities Advancement Grant that supported “Community Conversations: A Digitized Cultural Preservation Project in the United States Virgin Islands,” which trained students to collect, digitize and share oral histories while creating a publicly accessible digital archive. 

These initiatives not only preserve the Territory’s unique dialects, stories and cultural traditions but also engage students in real-world humanities scholarship. 

The revised courses, to be implemented beginning Fall 2026 and continuing into Spring 2027, will include:

• Updated scholarship and materials reflecting recent humanities research

• Community-based learning experiences across St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John

• Opportunities for students to engage in archival work, oral history collection and digital preservation projects

• Field experiences that connect historical scholarship with local places and stories.

The project reinforces UVI’s role as a cultural and intellectual center for the Territory, particularly in the wake of hurricanes and COVID 19 pandemic, which caused significant losses to heritage resources. The updated curriculum will empower students to preserve and promote the U.S. Virgin Islands’ unique history and cultural adversity for future generations.