Call for Proposals
2007 - 2008 Mellon Workshops in the Humanities

The College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences is pleased to announce the fifth year of a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a program of workshops in the humanities and humanities-related areas. These workshops will bring together College faculty and graduate students in interdisciplinary, cross-cultural discussions arising from new and classical topics in the humanities. The workshops function as study and discussion groups, each with a focus on a particular, broadly conceived theme. In the 2007-08 academic year, the College expects to fund five workshops, pending final funding confirmation. Each workshop will receive a budget of $5000 in support of the year's activities, including the costs of bringing visiting speakers to UCR to participate in and/or lead group seminars.

At this time the College is soliciting proposals for workshops for 2007-08. A proposed workshop should bring together faculty and graduate students from a number of different departments and disciplines. Workshop activities might include discussion of readings, individual presentations of work in progress, guest lectures with question/answer sessions, and discussion of screenings or performance media. Workshops could pursue a wide range of topics in diverse formats, including writing, reading, viewing, critique, and presentation of one's own or others' works, articles, books, dissertation chapters, theories, creative writing or poetry, cultural analyses, critical theory, films, and music.  The workshop should have a thematic focus, one that will draw on a number of scholarly specialties and humanistic methodologies. We expect each workshop to meet at least once a month. Workshop activities should be widely publicized and open to any member of the university community.

For a list of past workshops, please see the reverse of this flyer or visit the program website: http://www.ucrmellonworkshop.ucr.edu/

Submission of Proposals. There is no official form. Proposals in the form of a letter with budget may be submitted by an advanced graduate student or a faculty member.  The core group should consist of at least four individuals, with about half being graduate students and no more than two of the group participants from the same department. The proposal should specify the target audience beyond the core participants on campus or in the community. It should also make clear what the theme for the workshop will be, what topics will be discussed and what materials will likely be studied, and which outside speakers may be invited. Past workshop groups may also submit proposals for continued funding in the coming year.  A complete proposal will include a budget not to exceed $5,000 for support of the proposed activities.

Selection. Proposals will be reviewed and evaluated by a panel of 3-5 faculty members who will recommend funding priorities to the Dean. In addition to standard review criteria such as adherence to the submission criteria mentioned above, clarity of presentation, coherence of the workshop plan, and feasibility, reviewers will seek proposals that demonstrate breadth of interdisciplinary interest and inclusiveness, both in the workshop's theme and in its participants. Preference will be given to groups that are not already organized programs on campus.

Deadline.  The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday, April 9, 2007. A proposal should be no more than three single-spaced pages.  Please submit four hardcopies and an electronic email attachment version to: Professor T. Scanlon, Mellon Workshop Director, 1402 HMNSS, Department of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages.

Awards.  We anticipate announcing awards in early May, 2007.
For more information: Contact Professor Scanlon at (951) 827-1462 or thomas.scanlon@ucr.edu

Previous Mellon Workshops

06-07 Workshops

Affect, Technicity, Ethics
Free(style) Theater Project
The Global 19th Century
Medieval Culture and Postmodern Legacies
Transnational Networks in World Historical Perspective

05-06 Workshops

Democratizing Global Governance
Medieval Culture and Postmodern Legacies
Of Human Bondage and Modern Subjectivity
Southeast Asian Inter-Textualities
Spectacles of Masculinity
Transforming Hegemonies — Inter-group project

04-05 Workshops

Confronting Global Capital: The Challenges of Global Democracy
Divination, Prediction, and the Very Idea of the Future
The Global Interface
Medieval Culture and Postmodern Legacies
Re-Examining Ethnic Identity and Acculturation: Addressing the Integration of Content, Process, and Domain Specificity
Visual Sovereignty: Indigenous Film and Visual Culture

03-04 Workshops

Abuse of Ideals
American Founding
Empire, Gender, Violence
Improvisation Studies Workshop
Intellectual Activity Outside of the Academy: Self-Trained Thinkers, Activists, and Artists in the African Diaspora