Programming Highlights 2011-2012 humanitiesinstitute.wfu.edu
Frequently Asked Questions about WFU Humanities Institute Programs
for WFU faculty and students
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What kinds of programs does W-S Partners in the Humanities support?
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What kinds of projects are eligible for Ventures in the Humanities collaborative seed grants?
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On what kinds of topics do interdisciplinary Faculty Seminars focus (and what forms can they take)?
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How can I find out if there’s faculty interest in a seminar topic I’d like to propose?
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What kinds of activities do Collegiate Seminars and College Collaborations support?
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Do any Humanities Institute programs apply to faculty teaching abroad?
What kinds of endeavors does W-S Partners in the Humanities support?
W-S Partners in the Humanities can support a range of endeavors. The following examples are only suggestive and not intended to be directive:
 collaboration between WFU faculty and Reynolda House revolving around an upcoming exhibit and involving an afternoon interdisciplinary symposium or round table discussion.
 research that partners with a community organization (such as a community health organization, not-for-profit, or science museum), to study special topics (such as representation of the human body, family, health or wellness; the history of a local organization in W-S; or the history or particular cultural significance of a local community in the area).
 working with local middle or high school teachers to develop curriculum for particular topics in
 the humanities. an afternoon event (on campus or off) that brings together faculty and community speakers to address a particular topic in the humanities.
What kinds of projects are eligible for Ventures in the Humanities collaborative seed grants?
Ventures in the Humanities collaborative seed grants also lend themselves to multiple formats, including, but not at all limited to, the following:
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long-term digital or oral history projects that depend on the collaboration of two or more faculty drawn from at least two different disciplines and which has the potential to secure external funding for the project's completion.
 collaborative interdisciplinary book, documentary film or theatre projects that have significant potential for external funding.
 interdisciplinary groups of faculty pursuing research on timely topics, such as “human rights after 9/11” or “representations of illness and wellness in health care reform,” that are eligible for external funding.
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Projects involving applications and plans to convene an NEH Summer Seminar
On what kinds of topics do faculty seminars focus (and what forms can they take)?
Interdisciplinary faculty seminars focus on a wide range of topics, including but not limited to a specific problem, research project, area of interdisciplinary inquiry, body of literature, historical period, geographic region, culture, etc. Previous seminars have focused on a broad range of topics including:
Peace and Conflict Management, Science and the Arts in the 18th Century, Transatlantic Geographies: from 1492 to the Present, Landscape and Place in the Humanities: Contestation, Creation and the

Programming Highlights 2011-2012 humanitiesinstitute.wfu.edu
Environment, The Humanities and Human Rights, and The Politics of Location and Transnational
Feminisms. The interdisciplinary seminar can follow one of several formats, including:
 a reading group that examines and discusses in depth a list of readings.
 a scholarly circle in which seminar participants read and engage each other's work-in-progress.
 a seminar that researches a shared topic or pursues a specific project or problem.
Faculty seminars build intellectual community and invigorate scholarship. They can also lead to a range of outcomes that benefit faculty, including but not limited to:
 single authored publications (print or digital) that have benefited from interdisciplinary collaboration
 collaboratively generated publications (print or digital)
 conference panels
 planned conferences or symposia at Wake Forest
 other scholarly, creative activities that emerge from seminar collaboration
How can I find out if there’s faculty interest in a seminar topic I’d like to propose?
You can post your idea on the Humanities Institute bulletin board (at http://humanitiesinstitute.wfu.edu
under “Opportunities.”). If you’d like to share your idea for a new seminar with faculty colleagues and invite them to contact you, send your proposed topic, name, department or unit, and email address to
Ms. Aimee Mepham ( mephamam@wfu.edu
) for posting.
What kinds of activities do Collegiate Seminars and College Collaborations support?
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Collegiate Seminars provides small groups of faculty and students in any academic unit the opportunity to engage in regular co-curricular study of select interdisciplinary topics in the humanities. Past collegiate seminars include Music and Neuroscience and Celluloid
Shakespeare.
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College Collaborations supports faculty-student research, scholarship or larger scale endeavors in the humanities, including but not limited to archival research, assisting faculty in the translation of primary texts, hosting visiting authors and scholars, producing documentary films, working in digital humanities, or organizing symposia. Faculty-student partners in the URECA
Center’s Wake Forest Research Fellowship Program are eligible for College Collaborations cofunding.
Do any Humanities Institute programs apply to WFU faculty teaching abroad?
Yes! Guest speakers and forums, Humanities for the Common Good lectures, collegiate seminars and college collaborations may be hosted or convened by Wake Forest faculty (and students, as in the case of college collaborations) at WFU locations abroad, including Casa Artom, Flow House and Worrell
House.