Mellon
23
Collaborative Workshops
Amherst, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Carleton, Denison, DePauw, Furman, Grinnell, Harvey Mudd, Haverford,
Macalester, Middlebury, Oberlin, Pomona, Reed, Rhodes, Scripps, Smith, Swarthmore,
Vassar, Wellesley, Wesleyan, Williams
Workshop Summaries
2009
In 2006, the Mellon Foundation awarded the Mellon 23, a group of twenty-three liberal arts colleges, a Faculty
Career Enhancement Program grant. This grant is being used to fund collaborative initiatives to support faculty
in their scholarly and creative work and to aid them in gaining a broader view of their institutions and of the
pressing challenges facing American liberal arts colleges. In March 2009, the Mellon 23 Collaborative
Workshop Subcommittee selected for funding nine multi-institution faculty development workshop proposals.
The deans/provosts at each Mellon 23 institution agreed that they would provide supplemental support through
their own institutional funds to enable additional members of their faculties to participate in the funded
workshops.
Broadening Access to STEM Workshop
Location and Dates: Carleton College
Primary Contact: Arjendu Pattanayak, Carleton College
Other Leaders:
Trish Ferett, Carleton College
Kate Queeney, Smith College
Jim Swartz, Grinnell College
Wendy Raymond, Williams College
Jeff Tecosky-Feldman, Haverford College
Participants: 9 colleges
Synopsis:
Increasingly, the recruitment and retention of under-represented minorities (URMS) in the sciences has become
a significant problem for many selective liberal arts colleges (SLACS). In response, the two-day hands-on
workshop will seek to produce a concrete list of “next steps” for increasing URM enrollment for each
institutional team, drawing upon the successes, lessons, failures, and challenges learned from respective Mellon
23 faculty. Data and information garnered will be collaboratively shared to form a foundation for understanding
and grappling with URM patterns of enrollment.
Workshop on Global Reimannian Geometry, Orbifolds, and Related Topics
Location and Dates: Middlebury College, Fall 2009
Primary Contact: Emily Proctor, Middlebury College
Other Leaders:
Ralph Gomez, Swarthmore College
Megan Kerr, Wellesley College
Christopher Seaton, Rhodes College
Participants:
Linda Chen, Swarthmore College
Joshua Davis, Carleton College
Weiqing Gu, Harvey Mudd College
Martin Magid, Wellesley College
Janet Talvacchia, Swarthmore College
Lisa Traynor, Bryn Mawr College
Synopsis:
Riemannian geometry, a highly complex subdivision of geometry, is the product of a variety of manifolds,
orbifolds, and Lie groups, and is often viewed as too challenging a topic to be explored in undergraduate
institutions. The workshop will bring together Riemannian geometers, with the intent of collaborating on the
best approaches for introducing Riemannian geometry into a greater percentage of undergraduate classrooms.
Scholars will also work together to devise methods and approaches for recruiting fellow Riemannian geometers
to work at liberal arts institutions.
Apuleius, Colonial of the Roman Empire
Location and Dates: April 29-May 1, 2010
Primary Contact: Benjamin Todd Lee, Oberlin College
Other Leaders:
Ellen Finkelpearl, Scripps College
Benjamin Todd Lee, Oberlin College
Sonia Sabnis, Reed College
Participants:
Christopher Chinn, Pomona College
Pawan Dhingra, Oberlin College
Robert Germany, Haverford College
Kirk Ormand, Oberlin College
Thomas Van Nortwick, Oberlin College
David Roselli, Scripps College
Nancy Shumate, Smith College
William Turpin, Swarthmore College
Drew Wilburn, Oberlin College
Synopsis:
Little research has focused on the origins of Apuleius, author of The Golden Ass, who lived in a small Roman
province in Africa. The workshop will offer Classics scholars and faculty interested in Comparative Literature,
English, North African and Middle Eastern studies the ability to share and collaborate on the relevance of
today’s perceptions of Apuleius to the realities of the ancient world, as well as explore how literary work
provides insight into provincial cultures. Conclusions drawn from the workshop will be used to enhance
existing and generate new Classics courses at undergraduate institutions.
Learning and Teaching Physical Sciences in the Liberal Arts College: Forging a Research Agenda
Location and Dates: TBD
Primary Contact: Lynne A. Molter, Swarthmore College
K. Ann Renninger, Swarthmore College
Other Leaders: Faculty from Carleton and Smith
Participants: Two faculty members from each of 4 institutions
Synopsis:
While the sciences are highly successful fields of study, undergraduate enrollment rates have confirmed that
most students, especially women, minorities, and first-generation students, concentrate in the social sciences
and humanities. The workshop will allow for a collaboration of insights used to explain the reasons why
women, minorities and first-generation students attending small colleges matriculate away from the physical
2
sciences. In doing so, participants will be able to collect and act upon a variety of different questions raised that
are relevant to the physical sciences and enrollment rates at their own institutions.
Workshop in Linguistics
Location and Dates: October 2-4, 2009, Swarthmore College
Primary Contact: Donna Jo Napoli, Swarthmore College
Other Leaders:
Robert Remez, Barnard College
Mike Flynn, Carleton College
Mary Paster, Pomona College
Jill de Villiers, Smith College
Participants:
John Rager, Amherst
Jason Kandybowicz, Bryn Mawr/Haverford/Swarthmore
Catherine Fortin, Carleton
Shizhe Huang, Haverford
John Spackman, Middlebury
Kim Faber, Oberlin
Kim Bruce, Pomona
Eric Breck, Rhodes
Sasha Kostina, Rhodes
David Harrison, Swarthmore
Andrea Levitt, Wellesley
Nathan Sanders, Williams
Ann Senghas, Barnard
Brigittine French, Grinnell
Christina Esposito, Macalester
John Haiman, Macalester
Sasha Kostina, Rhodes
Peter de Villiers, Smith
Vera Lee Schoenfeld, Swarthmore
Deepak Kumar, Bryn Mawr
Matt Person, Reed
Ted Fernald, Swarthmore
Donna Jo Napoli, Swarthmore
Synopsis:
In recent years, the study of linguistics has expanded to include not only cognitive and documentary linguistics,
but also computational and neuro-linguistics. Attention must be given to how these new fields are to be applied
both in the classroom, as well as within the larger social context. The workshop will focus on the ways in which
linguistics is currently presented to students, seeking to discover new and innovative courses, which can
sufficiently address the many different applications of linguistic study. Scholars will also build upon studentteacher relations with the intent of increasing engagement in student -based research.
Diaspora and Gender Workshop
Location and Dates: Vassar College, Spring 2010
Primary Contact: Linta Varghese, Vassar College
3
Other Leaders: Eve Dunbar, Vassar College
Participants:
Bakirathi Mani, Swarthmore College
Caroline Melly, Daphne Lamothe, Smith College
Gina Ulysse, Wesleyan College
Monica Miller, Barnard College
Stephane Robolin, Williams College
Anita Mannur, Dennison College
Synopsis:
Gender and diaspora has been approached in two ways. One standpoint focuses on women in diasporic settings,
while the other views diaspora through a feminist lens. Gendered analyses of diaspora have proved limiting, and
attention must be given to the ways in which gendered perceptions have deconstructed the notion of diaspora, as
well as how gendered views will influence the eventual demise or resurgence of diaspora. The workshop will
allow scholars to apply their recent research in the areas of gender and diaspora to a discussion focusing on the
recent changes in Black and South Asian Diaspora Studies. Interchange from the workshop will be captured by
a special journal issue exploring the notion of diaspora and its relation to gender conceptualizations, and from
this work, an interpretation of diaspora, independent of gender, will be derived.
Teaching During Wartime: Security Studies in the Liberal Arts
Location and Dates: TBD
Primary Contact:
Stacie Goddard, Wellesley College
Paul MacDonald, Williams College
Alexander Montgomery, Reed College
Other Leaders:
Eric Chenoweth, Wesleyan University
Brent Durbin, Smith College
Participants:
Dominic Tierney, Swarthmore College
Nicholas de Warren, Wellesley College
Craig Murphy, Wellesley College
Larry Rosenwald, Wellesley College
Alexander Cooley, Barnard College
Marnie Anderson, Smith College
James Wood, Williams College
Kimberly Marten, Barnard College
James McAllister, Williams College
Susanna Wing, Haverford College
Barak Mendelsohn, Haverford College
Peter Just, Williams College
Michael Pesenson, Swarthmore College
Jon Western, Mount Holyoke College
Paul Silverstein, Reed College
Synopsis:
The ongoing war between the United States and terrorism has posed much concern for how security issues are
brought to the classroom. Some students have been exposed to war, while others have limited experience or
knowledge. Differences in personal background call for a new evaluation of the appropriateness and relevance
of how security issues are currently being taught. The workshop will allow participants to address the scope of
challenges experienced by those teaching security studies, and will breed conversations for innovation during
4
four roundtable discussions pertaining to war and the classroom, curriculum planning, innovative pedagogy, and
research. Journal articles and new pedagogical tools will be produced as a result.
Feminist Ethics and Women’s Studies—Renewal
Location and Dates: DePauw University
Primary Contact: Meryl Altman, DePauw University
Other Leaders:
Jennifer Everett, DePauw University
Kerry Pannell, DePauw University
Kristin Bumiller, Amherst College
Gill Wright Miller, Denison University
Astrid Henry, Grinnell College
Marianne de Laet, Harvey Mudd College
Sujata Moorti, Middlebury College
Tamara Metz, Reed College
Susan Castagnetto, Scripps College
Diane Harriford, Vassar College
Mary Lyndon Shanley, Vassar College
Participants:
Synopsis:
In June 2007, new initiatives were taken to bridge the gap between women’s studies programs and feminist
ethics. Based on this past endeavor, the workshop will continue to explore the relationship between women’s
studies and feminist ethics, as participants will discuss gender, sex, the body, intersectionalities and privilege,
care and dependency, health issues, poverty, personal politics, sexual ethics, public policy, art, as well as
additional research-related topics, with the intent of developing new and exciting courses for students at
participating institutions.
Integrating Inter-College Undergraduate Research Affiliations to a Multi-Campus Environmental
Analysis Program at the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology, Costa Rica
Location and Dates: Firestone Center, Costa Rica, first week of June
Primary Contact: Donald A. McFarlane, Scripps College
Participants:
Newton Copp, Scripps College
Kristina Mead, Denison University
Char Miller, Pomona College
Gene Fowler, Pomona College
Jen Houghton, Rhodes College
David Harris, Harvey Mudd College
Carol Brandt, Pitzer College
Synopsis:
The Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology (FCRE) has been utilized for sustainability efforts since 1993.
The five day workshop is intended to build a coalition between researchers and students who will utilize the
Creating Inter-College Undergraduate Research Affiliations Toward a Multi-campus Environmental Analysis
Program at the Firestone Center to not only gain on-sight experience, but to also help achieve restoration efforts
in the lowlands. Other topics of exploration will also include human land use patterns, small-scale climate
studies, and insect biodiversity. Through this workshop, researchers and students from a variety of different
backgrounds will be able to come together for one ecological purpose, bringing with them a vast array of
different ideas and knowledge.
5