Mt. San Jacinto College
Foundation Mini Grant Proposal – Speaker Honorarium
Fall 2015
Project Title
“Conversations with Working Historians”
Project Description
The combined history departments of the college would like to launch an annual guest speaker
program. Once a year, during the fall semester, we would like to invite a major historian from
southern California to give a guest lecture to our students, faculty, staff, and community guests.
The speaker should be eminent, should have published in his field, and should speak on a topic
of general interest.
We would like to begin our program this October by inviting Professor Ross Dunn (who has
already indicated an interest in giving a talk to Mt. San Jacinto College faculty and students).
Recently retired from California State University at San Diego, Professor Dunn has just
published a major new textbook in World History. Initially trained in the history of North
Africa, Professor Dunn has worked with UCLA, the National Endowment for the Humanities,
and other organizations to promote world history. This mini grant proposal is to provide a
speaker honorarium to Professor Dunn who has a national reputation as one of the pioneering
figures in world history.
Bringing a scholar of Professor Dunn's stature to Mt. San Jacinto College is also in keeping with
our college's mission statement that asserts "(o)ur commitment to student learning empowers
students with the skills and knowledge needed to effect positive change and enhance the world in
which we live.” Funding a lecture by Professor Dunn will demonstrate this type of commitment
to expanding the learning opportunities of our students.
Project Justification
The intent of this event will be to bring a major scholar to our community to speak to us and
interact with our students. All of our classes depend on the work of published, professional
historians, and this event will enable our students to meet an actual researcher and book writer.
Also, Professor Dunn comes from an institution where we send many of our students to transfer.
This is one way to establish yet another contact between our students and a transfer institution
and to encourage our students to transfer to four-year colleges. The networking that will result
from this program will enhance the academic reputation of Mt. San Jacinto College with regional
transfer faculty. It will also provide a source of inspiration to History faculty who are currently
using Professor Dunn's groundbreaking textbook in their classes or are considering using it in the
future. Professors from the Social Sciences and Humanities have also indicated an interest in
attending. Finally, this event will be open to all faculty as a Flex activity, enabling them to meet
part of their obligation for professional development.
In terms of Program Review, bringing Professor Dunn to Mt. San Jacinto College as a guest
speaker is in keeping with the History Department's goals to "increase the visibility of the
History Program on campus" by "invit(ing) additional guest speakers to campus to present on
history-related subjects" as articulated in the 2011 History Department's Program Review for the
San Jacinto Campus.
Project Schedule
This mini grant proposal is to bring our first speaker, Professor Ross Dunn to Mt. San Jacinto
College in October of the Fall 2015 semester.
Budget Detail
To attract a scholar of Professor Dunn’s caliber, we would like to request an Honorarium of
$500. This sum should cover regional travel expenses and offer the sort of compensation
appropriate for professional scholars in our area.
Project Managers
Christina Yamanaka, Jim Davis, Tamara Smith, and Gary Vargas (full-time departmental history
instructors at MSJC)
Contact Information:
Christina Yamanaka: cyamanaka@msjc.edu, 951-487-3522 (San Jacinto Campus)
Jim Davis: jdavis@msjc.edu, 951-639-5660 (Menifee Valley Campus)