Initiatives

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In addition to organizing and presenting each year the major arts and lecture calendar for the College of Arts & Sciences, Syracuse Symposium™, and administering the Andrew W. Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor, The SU Humanities Center is responsible for a number of annual research initiatives and major programs. The research initiatives of the SU Humanities Center are organized into three overarching categories:

Annual Programs

To complement the Dissertation and Research Fellowship programs, the following annual programs are offered:

  • HC MINI-SEMINAR SERIES The purpose of the Mini Seminars is to present national and international scholars in a seminar-style format, which is usually more intensive and conversational than a traditional lecture setting.  The goal is to create a dialogue about the public possibilities of humanistic inquiry as they pertain to interdisciplinary thinking and real-world issues. All Mini-Seminars run 9 a.m. to noon in The SU Humanities Center’s seminar room (Tolley 304). Please contact Karen Ortega in The SU Humanities Center for more information on a particular event.   
  • SYRACUSE SYMPOSIUM SEMINARS As part of the Syracuse Symposium, the SU Humanities Center will sponsor the Syracuse Symposium Seminars to correspond with each year’s annual theme. In conjunction with the theme of "Conflict: Peace and War," seminars will be taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels by faculty from across all divisions and Colleges, and will include visiting lecturers as part of the Watson Distinguished Visiting Collaborator series co-sponsored by the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor initiative. The Syracuse Symposium Seminars will become a regular curricular program in the Humanities Center each spring semester. See Spring 2012 Syracuse Symposium Seminars    
  • HC DISSERTATION FELLOW SYMPOSIA: Each year, funding is provided to the HC Dissertation fellows to organize organize a colloquium, symposium, or conference in their field of research.  The HC Fellow symposia are usually offered in the spring semester of each year. Beginning in spring 2012, HC Faculty Fellows will also organize symposia, lectures, or working groups to contribute to the HC annual programs and research agenda.
  • THE JEANETTE K. WATSON DISTINGUISHED VISITING PROFESSORSHIP IN THE HUMANITIES:  Resuming in 2012,  the Humanities Center Faculty Advisory Board will appoint the Watson Distinguished Visiting Professor in the College of Arts & Sciences. The professorship was originally made possible by the generosity of the late Jeannette K. Watson, and is designed to bring a scholar or writer of national distinction to campus for a longer period of time during a semester, or to conduct several visits of shorter intervals, in order to contribute to an ongoing research project, conduct a seminar, or participate in a number of related events. Please contact the SU Humanities Center for more information on future nomination and selection procedures for this program. Download Application for 2012-2013 Academic Year. Deadline Feb 15th 
  • THE WATSON VISITING COLLABORATOR, in conjunction with the CNY Humanities Corridor:   Beginning in 2010, as an expansion of purpose and scope of the Watson Professorship, the Visiting Collaborator program was implemented to work in conjunction with the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor to bring nationally prominent scholars, artists, and writers to work collaboratively with research clusters and faculty working groups at Syracuse University. This program is designed to supplement the research activities in the following areas that are funded by the Mellon initiative: Philosophy, Linguistics, Music History/Musicology, Digital Humanities, Visual Arts & Culture. Beginning in 2012, it is anticipated that this program will be further amplified to support Visiting Collaborator appointments at other Corridor institutions. 
  • FACULTY/GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH CLUSTERS: Each spring the Faculty Advisory Board will select up to four research clusters composed of faculty and graduate students working on inter-disciplinary projects that impact the Humanities both globally and at Syracuse University. Research Clusters will be selected on the basis of proposals that outline a project or initiative that will be completed in the following academic year, such as organizing a workshop or reading group, studying a curricular issue or program, conducting a conference or symposia with faculty from outside Syracuse University, or applying for a major grant or research subsidy. Calls for new proposals will be made late in the Fall semester each year and are due to the Humanities Center no later than November 15th for review and selection by the Faculty Advisory Board. For more information on this opportunity, please contact Kelly Pickard or Karen Ortega in the SU Humanities Center at 443-7192.
  • GRADUATE FORUM ON PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP:  The Humanities Center and Imagining America have established a new annual program of support for Graduate Students engaging in public scholarship at Syracuse University, Cornell University, and the University of Rochester. The Graduate Forum on Public Scholarship is designed to give graduate students a voice and opportunity to dialogue about some of the following issues: graduate students’ experiences with engaged scholarship; how this mode of research is evolving within and across various academic disciplines; lessons learned from path-breaking faculty who have successfully engaged in this mode of research in the context of academic institutions; the role of supportive networks in making this research possible; institutional obstacles to publicly engaged research, etc.  This initiative is sponsored by the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor and PAGE at Imagining America and generously supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.  All graduate students with an emphasis on public scholarship in their research are eligible.  view Imagining America website

Multi-Year Initiatives:

The SU Humanities Center is also affiliated with several multi-year projects either supported by external funding (apart from the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor), or by the Chancellor’s Leadership Award. Currently, these research projects and working groups include:

  • TRANSDISCIPLINARY MEDIA STUDIO [TdMS]: Envisioning, designing, and constructing the MEDIA|SPACE of the Future, Chancellor's Leadership Project Award (2009) The Transdisciplinary Media Studio (TdMS) is a new type of design studio that uses digital media to foster multi-directional teaching and research collaborations among partners from different disciplines. The TdMS will bring together participants from the university and its broader community to conduct research and teaching that explore the new design practices emerging from this technology-inspired convergence. Principals:  Gregg Lambert, Dean's Professor of the Humanities and Founding Director of the Humanities Center; Mark Linder, Associate Professor of Architecture and Chair of Graduate Programs; Brian Lonsway, Associate Professor of Architecture; Jonathan Massey, Associate Professor of Architecture and Undergraduate Program Chair.  view website

  • PERPETUAL PEACE PROJECT (Spring 2010-Spring 2012):  A two-year collaborative initiative centered around Immanuel Kant’s “Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch” (1795), developed by the SU Humanities Center and Philadelphia-based Slought Foundation, with partners at the Austrian Consulate, UNIC, the UN, and International Peace Institute (IPI). The Perpetual Peace initiative revisits and encourages a critical rewriting of Immanuel Kant’s provocative essay for 21st century international conflict.  Its aim is to encourage philosophical and conceptual thinking about urgent matters of war and peace, their discourse, terms of debate, and implications. During spring 2011, the exhibition that took place in the New Museum will move to Haverford College, PA., and will be accompanied by workshops and lectures involving the project organizers, faculty and students.  view website

Workshops and Practicum

Additionally, the following workshops and practicum series will be offered regularly for SU Graduate Students and Faculty:

  • HUMANITIES CENTER PRACTICUM FOR NEW FACULTY AND ADVANCED GRADUATE STUDENTS: Beginning in 2010 the SU Humanities Center is designing a series of “practicum” specifically designed to help new faculty and advanced graduate students proactively engage with pressing issues relevant for their professional development and advancement in the interdisciplinary humanities.  Topics for 2010 include: “How to Transform a Dissertation into a Book.”
  • INTERDISCIPLINARY HUMANITIES DISSERTATION WRITING GROUPS: The SU Humanities Center and the Graduate School Professional Development Programs at Syracuse University have established an annual program of support in the Humanities Center for Interdisciplinary Humanities Dissertation Writing Groups.  Any doctoral student in good standing whose work has an interdisciplinary humanities component may join this dissertation writing group.  The Program provide funding support for several Writing Groups to convene monthly throughout the Fall and Spring semesters and summer (voluntary) to share drafts of dissertation chapters, to provide substantive feedback to each other’s work, and to discuss successful writing strategies.