The Mellon 23 Faculty Workshops
In 2006, the Mellon Foundation awarded the Mellon 23, a group of twenty-three liberal arts colleges (see list of institutions below), a Faculty Career Enhancement Program grant. This grant will fund collaborative initiatives that support faculty in their scholarly and creative work and that aid faculty in gaining a broader view of their institutions and of the pressing challenges facing American liberal arts colleges. As part of this grant, funding is now available to extend opportunities for multi-institution faculty development workshops across the Mellon 23 colleges. These workshops have proven to be very successful among several subgroups of the Mellon 23 that have had them in past.
Workshop Description
The Mellon Foundation grant provides funds to support workshops that enable faculty members from Mellon 23 institutions to gather and work together on a subject of mutual interest. Designed and organized by the faculty, the workshops may focus on topics relating to research, curricula, or pedagogy and, where relevant, may be either disciplinary or interdisciplinary. The workshops may take place during the academic year or break time and may be held on member institution campuses or may extend a stay at professional meetings by a day or two. Up to three workshops will be funded in the summer of 2008 and during the 2008-2009 academic year. Topics of collaborative workshops funded by Mellon in the past include Ethnomusicology and the Liberal Arts, Empirical Political Science and the Liberal Arts Education, Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Histories and Cultures of the Atlantic World, Mathematical Modeling, Understanding Culture through Film, Teaching Introductory Electricity and Magnetism, Studio Math: Art and Math Interactions in Liberal Arts Teaching, Studying the Global South, and Teaching Paleontology in the Twenty-First Century.
Guidelines
Priority will be given to proposals that are planned jointly by several faculty members from three or more (ideally, at least five) of the Mellon 23 institutions. It is the hope that the workshops will foster collaboration among these institutions and might lead to sustained interactions in scholarship or pedagogy among faculty. The Mellon 23 Deans/Provosts may help identify other interested colleagues at their institutions who might be interested in selected workshops. Funding is also available to support the participation of a limited number of faculty from institutions outside the Mellon 23. The Mellon grant will support up to two participants from each institution, to a maximum of $1,200 per person. The Mellon 23 Deans/Provosts may provide supplemental support through their own institutional funds to enable additional colleagues to participate in a given workshop. Workshops may vary in cost and number of participants. Funding levels will depend on the nature and scope of the workshop. The maximum funding for an individual workshop is $20,000.
Workshop proposals should contain the following items:
- A description (not to exceed 500 words) of the proposed workshop, its rationale and intended audience, its schedule and format, and its intended impact.
- A list of the faculty members who will be the workshop leaders and of other faculty members who will assist in the detailed planning of the workshop.
- Condensed CVs (not to exceed two pages) of the above individuals.
- A preliminary budget, which may support the following:
- A modest stipend for the primary workshop organizer(s) ($500 for smaller workshops, up to $1,000 for larger ones)
- Travel and accommodation expenses for faculty participants from the Mellon 23
- Travel and accommodation expenses and a modest stipend for speakers from outside the Mellon 23
- Modest staff support for organizing the logistics (hotel space, etc.) for the workshop
- Administrative expenses (mailing of notices, duplication of conference materials, etc.)
- Plans for the evaluation of the workshop.
Review
Proposals for campus review are due by November 15, 2007, to the Dean of the Faculty. Proposals will then be forwarded from each campus for review by the Collaborative Workshop Subcommittee of the Mellon 23. Two or three workshops, depending on the overall budget, will be selected for full development and funding by mid-January. Once approved, the workshops will be announced on the Mellon 23 Web site and through the individual campuses, so that faculty can express their interest in participating.
The Mellon 23 includes the following institutions: Amherst College, Barnard College, Bryn Mawr College, Carleton College, Denison University, DePauw University, Furman University, Grinnell College, Harvey Mudd College, Haverford College, Macalester College, Middlebury College, Oberlin College, Pomona College, Reed College, Rhodes College, Scripps College, Smith College, Swarthmore College, Vassar College, Wesleyan University, Wellesley College, and Williams College.
top