Humanities Corridor

The Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor is an interdisciplinary collaboration of three regional AAU (Association of American Universities) institutions with vigorous humanistic scholarly traditions: Syracuse University, Cornell University, and The University of Rochester. The Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor is generously supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through a four-year, $1 million award designed to raise public engagement with and visibility of the humanities throughout Central New York and to enhance the productivity of its key scholars, students, and community members.

History

Overview of the History of the Mellon CNY Corridor Initiative

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The AAU universities of Central New York – Cornell, Rochester, and Syracuse – have vigorous humanistic scholarly traditions and are home to more than 600 full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty in the Humanities.  This scholarly core presents a nationally significant intellectual opportunity for collaborative ventures in the Humanities with the prospects of enriching each of the campuses, the CNY region, and the public communities associated with each university. 

In August-November 2005 a team of interdisciplinary scholars in the humanities convened by Syracuse University completed an initial assessment that explored existing scholarly links and an initial framework for a regional Humanities Corridor.  With significant support from the Deans and 43 distinguished humanities faculty at the research universities, Syracuse University proposed and received a million dollar award from The Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor to develop a Humanities Corridor in selected fields of shared scholarly strengths across the region.  The Deans and Program Directors actively involved in this award’s initial planning were: Harry Shaw, Senior Associate Dean, and Brett de Bary, Director of the Society for the Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences, Cornell University; Joanna Olmsted, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Science, and Engineering, and William Green, Dean of the College, University of Rochester; James Undercofler, Dean, The Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester; Carole Brzozowski, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University; Mark Robbins, Dean of the School of Architecture, Syracuse University, Gerald Greenberg, Associate Dean for Humanities, The College of Arts and Sciences, Syracuse University; and Cathryn Newton, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Syracuse University was the original Project Director/Principal Investigator of the Andrew W. Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor.

If January 1, 2006, the start date and year 1 of the award was a planning-pilot year with few expenditures, its second year, 1 January 2007 (through 31 Dec 2007) saw the functional development of infrastructure and leadership in collaborative research “clusters,” as well as initial communication technology planning, established at the three participating research institutes: Syracuse University (SU), Cornell University (CU), and the University of Rochester (UR).  Five interdisciplinary clusters were established, drawing on the faculty and research strength across the three research institutes: “Cultures and Religions” (CR), the “Interface between Humanities and Science/Technology” (HST), “Philosophy and Linguistics,” (which were subsequently separated into PHI and LIN), “Music History/Musicology” (MMH), and “Visual Arts and Cultures” (VAC).  Additionally, technology planning and installation initiatives were developed at the three research institutes to aid in distinguished research collaborations; interdisciplinary workshops and conferences; consortial faculty projects; and increasing the visibility of the interdisciplinary humanities in CNY.

In August 2008, the Mellon Central New York Humanities Corridor was significantly restructured—beginning with the appointment of Gregg Lambert, Dean’s Professor of the Humanities, Founding Director of the Humanities Center, as Project Director/Principal Investigator.  Director Lambert set up meetings with the three participating institutions in December 2008 to review and to approve proposed activities and projects for 2009—the last year of the three-year, Mellon-sponsored partnership, scheduled to end on December 31, 2009. The newly appointed P.I.s for the partner institutions who met together with Director Lambert were: Timothy Murray, Director of the Society of the Humanities at Cornell University; Thomas DiPiero, Senior Associate Dean at the University of Rochester. The review and approval process revealed a dramatic increase in the level of activity, collaboration, and connectivity among the six designated clusters.

On December 14, 2009, the Board of Mellon Foundation approved an NCE request for the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor to continue operation through the end of the 2010 calendar year.  Much of the focus in the CNY Humanities Corridor will be on a planned external review of the project to take place this spring and fall in preparation for an application for renewal and a second phase of the Corridor. During spring 2010 projects and activities that were previously approved for the 2009 will continue and a new review and approval process for fall 2010 working groups will take place by April.

ORIGINAL OBJECTIVES

Design and develop through scholarly links the framework for a regional interdisciplinary humanities corridor in selected fields of shared scholarly strengths across the CNY region

Enhance the profile, scholarly prominence, and impact of the Humanities in the CNY region

Create connectivity among humanists in the CNY region

Develop long-term inter-institutional partnerships in established and emerging scholarly areas via research clusters and working groups.

Resources for the Corridor Initiative

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Existing assets and resources to aid this initiative included the following:

Strong collaboration among three participating University Deans

Intellectual momentum of 43 distinguished humanities faculty affiliated with the three research institutions

600 full-time tenured and tenure-track faculty in humanities at three research institutions

Intellectual status of the interdisciplinary humanities as a ‘scholarly core’ at each of these institutions

Deep history of connections among the three research institutions and departments

Nationally significant intellectual opportunity for collaboration in the interdisciplinary humanities

Mechanisms

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Develop five thematic research clusters, facilitated by working groups (WG) of faculty that conduct cluster-based interactive events and programs at the three campuses.  These are:

• Cultures and Religions (CR)
• The Interface between Humanities and Science/Technology (HST)
• Philosophy and Linguistics (PHI, LIN)
• Music History/Musicology (MMH)
• Visual Arts and Cultures (VAC)

Technology planning and installation initiatives are designed to aid in distinguished research collaborations; interdisciplinary workshops and conferences; consortial faculty projects; establishing connectivity across the campuses; and increasing the visibility of the interdisciplinary humanities in CNY.

Establish a nationally recognized Humanities Center as mechanism for lasting humanistic interchange and research.  This formal institutional location and its organizational resources promise to be a significant asset to the evolving progress of the Mellon CNY Humanities Corridor. 

Research Units

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Since interdisciplinarity, connectivity, and collaboration are the original aims of the Corridor initiative, designated areas of shared scholarly strength were defined as “Clusters” that comprised “Working Groups” of faculty across the three research universities

Clusters are defined as broad thematic rubrics.

Working groups are groups of scholars working on an issue/project under a cluster or thematic rubric.

There can be several Working Groups in a given Cluster: