Barbas wins grant from NEH 2020 Public Scholars Program

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has named Samantha Barbas winner of its grant competition in the 2020 Public Scholars Program. The highly competitive NEH Public Scholars Program, which supports well-researched books in the humanities aimed at a broad public audience, funded only twenty-five grants totaling $1.4 million this year. Barbas currently serves as Director of The Baldy Center and Professor of Law at University at Buffalo, School of Law. The NEH grant supports the development of her new manuscript, “New York Times v. Sullivan: The Landmark Case that Shaped Politics and the Press as We Know It.” The new book will present a comprehensive history of the Supreme Court free speech case New York Times v. Sullivan (1964), which established the current legal standard of libel against public officials.