Faculty Fellow to Direct 2020-2021
Deadline: June 1, 2020
Got BIG Research Ideas?
Do you want to work with colleagues who share your research interests from different disciplinary perspectives and connect with colleagues from across campus and the greater Boston area?
CONSIDER APPLYING FOR THIS UNIQUE FELLOWSHIP THROUGH THE VALENTE CENTER.
Purpose
With continued funding from a National Endowment for the Humanities challenge grant, the Valente Center is seeking proposals for the 2020-2021 Humanities Research Seminar. Under this program, a full time Bentley faculty member is designated an Organizing Faculty Fellow and proposes a yearlong interdisciplinary topic that will become the subject of research, teaching, and seminars. Up to ten (10) Participating Faculty Fellows from Bentley University and greater Boston colleges and universities are invited to take part in the seminar and its intellectual activities (and receive a stipend). The seminar may lead to the publication by participants of a volume of articles or chapters. Highly interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary themes are encouraged.
For example, the theme of the 2019-20 seminar is How Taxes Shapes Lives, coordinated by Prof Bridie Andrews, History. Previous seminars (2018-2019) focused Intersectionality (coordinated by prof. Laurel Steinfield, Marketing): on A Transdisciplinary Investigation of Evidence and Its Use (2017-18: coordinated by Prof Sean McDonald, Global Studies), Seeking Solutions to Gender-Related Career Challenges (2016-17: coordinated by Prof. Susan Adams, Management), Environmental Justice: Global to Local Contexts (2015-16; coordinated by Prof. Joni Seager, Global Studies), and Intended Consequences? The Historical and Contemporary Problematic of Planning (2014-15; organized by Prof. Cyrus Veeser, History).
Organizing Faculty Fellow’s Responsibilities
- Spring / Summer 2020: Plan and organize the seminar;
- Refine the focus of an interdisciplinary topic for the academic year;
- Ensure that the seminar topic both speaks to a broad constituency informed by the humanities, and provides sufficient focus to cultivate publishable research;
- Invite, review, and select participating scholars fellows;
- Organize seminar activities, including preliminary planning meetings, specific themes to be explored, publicity for seminar events;
- AY 2020 -2021: Direct the seminar;
- With administrative support from the Valente Center team, arrange for the seminar’s logistical details, including space, food and speaker arrangements;
- Make periodic reports on activities to the director of the Valente Center;
- Facilitate research collaborations between faculty and student fellows and supervise student fellows.
Eligibility and Compensation
All full time faculty members with a well-established research record and leadership experience are eligible. The Organizing Faculty Fellow will receive a stipend of $8,000 for AY 2020-21.
Application Process and Deadline
For consideration as the AY 2020-21 Humanities Research Seminar Organizing Faculty Fellow, submit a brief statement (approximately three pages, maximum) describing:
- The applicant’s vision for the Humanities Research Seminar, proposed topic, and potential for internal/external participating faculty and student involvement; and
- The applicant’s research and leadership qualifications.
- Please also submit an abbreviated CV highlighting relevant research, leadership, and student supervision experience.
The deadline for applications is June 1, 2020. Applications should be submitted to Valente Center Director Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts (jeijmberts@bentley@bentley.edu).
Decision Process
The Valente Center Advisory Board will review applications in consultation with the Valente Center Director. Selection and notification will be made in June 2020.
For questions about the program, potential topics, or applications, please contact Hans Eijmberts (jeijmberts@bentley.edu or call 6178889021).
Valente Center Humanities Research Seminar Series 2019-2020: “How Taxes Shape Lives”
Taxation offers a lens through which to examine economic and social change from new angles, and to reflect on how taxes shape our lived and natural environments. This topic, presented in an eight-part seminar series by the Valente Center, will explore the intersection of business studies with the arts and sciences. Faculty members from the following departments are invited to participate: History, Economics, Global Studies, English, Natural and Applied Sciences, Law, Taxation & Financial Planning, Accountancy and Philosophy. External collaborators from the Economic Departments at Williams College and Wellesley College will also participate. Each participant will each choose a topic, such as a particular tax law or reform, or an approach to taxation, and present it to the group at a level appropriate for educated non-specialist. After receiving feedback, each participant will write up their topic for publication as a chapter of an edited volume. The volume will be an accessible mid-market publication and a potential supplementary text for students. The seminar is led by Dr. Bridie Andrews (History). It is by invitation only – for more information or to attend a session of the seminar, please contact Bridie Andrews by e mail: bandrews@bentley.edu. For more information about the Valente Center’s series of Humanities Research Seminars in general, please contact the Director of the Valente Center for Arts & Science, Johannes (Hans) Eijmberts, jeijmberts@bentley.edu
2018-2019 Seminar: "Internationality at the Intersect of Disciplines"
The theme of the 2018-2019 seminar is “Internationality at the Intersect of Disciplines.” This theme is broadly construed as the goal of this seminar is for scholars to share and learn about different disciplinary perspectives and methodological tools used to examine intersecting oppressions.
As per Davis (2008, 68), internationality can be conceptualized as “the interaction [among] categories of difference in individual lives, social practices, institutional arrangements, and cultural ideologies and the outcomes of these interactions in terms of power.” Originating from black feminist scholarship, “intersectionality” has enabled scholars, activists, businesses and policy makers to better understand and address injustices that occur for individuals and groups from overlapping identity categories, whether race, gender, class, sexual orientation, nationality, etc.
This seminar invites fellows to explore topics related to a field of interest that either have or could benefit from an intersectional lens. This may include political, educational, or environmental processes/policies that result in the exclusion or disadvantage of certain groups, corporate/social entrepreneurial interventions that seek to address and empower disadvantaged groups, representations or sociocultural practices that perpetuate marginalizations or misrecognitions, the sociocultural or psychological aspects involved in the interaction of privileges and oppressions, among many other possibilities.
The Humanities Seminar is proudly organized by the Valente Center with the support of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. The organizing fellow for the 2018-19 Valente Humanities Seminar is Laurel Steinfield, Assistant Professor of Marketing.
Contact the Valente Center Director, Professor Hans Eijmberts, for more information.