The Professorship derives from a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant campaign in 1990. CC was one of 14 schools selected by the NEH from across the country to receive challenge grants devoted to establishing endowed professorships in the humanities. CC quickly matched the challenge grant of $250,000 (at a ratio of 3:1), and in 1995 the NEH Distinguished Teaching Professorship launched under the direction of English professor Dan Tynan. The first of its kind at Colorado College, the NEH Professorship rotates every three years among tenured faculty members in the humanities. 

Each NEH Professorship focuses on a theme, question, or topic within the humanities. The Professorship endowment provides funds to support innovative teaching, interdisciplinary collaborations, activities (such as events, speakers, book groups, seminars and workshops, projects and performances), and scholastic engagement across the humanities. [List of past NEH topics]