English faculty’s virtual reality design of Irish castle receives NEH humanities grant

The National Endowment for the Humanities recently announced $30 million for 238 humanities projects nationwide. Dr. Tom Herron, professor of English at East Carolina University, will receive a portion of the funds.

A narrative within in the virtual tour of Kilcolman Castle describing traditional clothing.
(Contributed photo)

Herron is the project director for “Castle to Classrooms: Developing an Irish Castle in Virtual Reality,” which will receive $93,121, and is one of only 16 projects funded in the category of digital humanities advancement.

“This was a big surprise, especially since first-time applicants have such a low rate of success in obtaining these types of grants,” said Herron. “I thought we would have to retry after failed attempts and further revision.”

Herron, colleagues at other universities, a Pitt County high school teacher and staff in ECU’s Information Technology and Computing Services office are collaborating on an offshoot of a digital humanities project Herron created a couple of years ago, “Centering Spenser: A Digital Resource for Kilcolman Castle.”

Kilcolman Castle, located in Ireland and now in ruins, was the home of early English poet Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). According to Herron, Spenser’s career and writings, which often focus in controversial ways on his life as a plantation settler, make the castle a fascinating subject of study.

Using funds from the grant, Herron and colleagues will adapt the existing 3D digital rendering of Kilcolman Castle into virtual reality teaching modules for history, architecture, archaeology, Irish studies and English literature.

“The modules will highlight the profound cultural diversity of the castle and its surroundings,” said Herron. “We anticipate running the modules past students in our classes next fall 2021 to test-run what we’ve come up with and to solicit their feedback.”

Read the full NEH press release.