WSU - Humanities

News & Updates

The Humanities Center is a member of HASTAC (“Haystack”), a consortium of humanists, artists, scientists, social scientists, and engineers from universities across the country.

Summary of Programs 2008-2009
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2008-2009 BROWN BAG SCHEDULE

RESIDENT SCHOLARS PROGRAM
This program is open to all WSU full-time faculty in the humanities, arts, and related disciplines. Resident scholars are provided with an office in the Humanities Center, a computer, and other office furnishings, and use of the Center's fax and photocopying machines. Residents are also eligible to apply for up to $800 for travel to conferences to report on their approved projects, or for payment for research assistance. This program should be especially attractive to faculty who will be on sabbatical leave for all or part of the year. Deadline: July 11, 2008.

FACULTY FELLOWSHIPS
.The Faculty Fellowship competition is based on an annual theme. The Humanities Center’s Advisory Board selects the theme and prepares an explication for our Faculty Fellowship Competition. Awarded Fellowships now average $6,000 and recipients are expected to participate in the annual Faculty Fellows Conference held in the spring of the following year. The theme for the 2008 competition will be The Environment. Deadline: April 3, 2009. Winners of the 2008-2009 competition, Hauntings , have now been announced.

FACULTY FELLOWSHIP CONFERENCE
The Faculty Fellows Conference is held in the winter semester. Internal Faculty Fellows Conferences speakers are the recipients of fellowships in the previous year. The conference allows the fellowship recipients to present the result of their funded work and to receive feedback from the audience. In addition to fellowship recipients from WSU, the center invites a distinguished keynoter who is an expert in the area addressed by the theme. The 2009 conference theme is Hauntings.

FALL SYMPOSIUM
The Fall Symposium is held once a year in November. It focuses on a topic of contemporary significance in humanities and arts. Internal speakers are chosen from abstracts submitted by WSU faculty members. In addition to speakers from WSU, the center invites a distinguished keynoter who is an expert in the area addressed by the theme. This year’s theme is Global Violence: Impact and Resolution.

OPEN COMPETITION GRANT (New Program!)
The Humanities Center strives to be as open and inclusive as possible in its annual competitions and to offer a variety of rich and broad themes and topics. However, the Center also recognizes that some themes or topics inadvertently might exclude important and exciting research at a critical time in its development. The intent of the "Open Competition" grant, then, is to compensate for these unavoidable exclusions. The proposed project makes an interdisciplinary and innovative contribution to the humanities or arts, does not conform to guidelines for other competitions sponsored by the Humanities Center and is at a critical point in its development toward publication. All WSU full time faculty are eligible to apply. The Center will fund up to three (3) projects up to $4,000 each . Applications are due November 14, 2008.

WORKING GROUPS IN THE HUMANITIES AND ARTS
Three or more faculty members, or faculty and graduate students, from at least two different departments meet regularly throughout the academic year to pursue a shared scholarly or creative interest. The Center will support up to three new groups for the 2008-2009 academic year, providing the use of the Center's conference room and up to $800 for speakers, supplies, or other organizational purposes. Deadline: September 19, 2008.

VISITING SCHOLARS PROGRAM
The Center, in collaboration with the College of Liberal Arts, the Law School and the College of Fine, Performing, and Communication Arts invites applications from scholars or artists who are affiliated with other universities and who hold the Ph.D. or equivalent degree for their field. Visits may range in duration from one month to one semester. No stipend is attached, but a Visiting Scholar who stays one full semester is eligible for a grant of up to $3,000 for miscellaneous expenses related to his or her work. The visitor will be assigned an office in the Center and assistance with obtaining library privileges. In return, he or she will be expected to give a talk on his or her project. Deadline: July 11, 2008 for the Fall 2008 Semester and November 14, 2008 for the Winter 2009 Semester.

EDWARD M. WISE DISSERTATION FELLOWSHIP
Each year the Humanities Center offers $12,000 in support to one student in the final stages of writing his or her dissertation through the Edward M. Wise Dissertation Fellowship. This program is partially supported by an annual gift from the Edward Wise Estate. Deadline: November 14, 2008.

TRAVEL AWARD PROGRAM FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS
The Center will budget up to $3,000 in the 2008-2009 academic year to support this program. In an effort to spread this funding across the full academic year, the Center will now budget $1,200 for the Fall Semester, $1,200 for the Winter Semester and $600 for the Spring/Summer Semester. Each award recipient will be funded up to $300 for travel to conferences or exhibitions held nationally or internationally between September 1, 2008 and August 15, 2009.