The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, in partnership with the Office of the Provost, invites proposals for individual sessions (i.e., small events) examining the humanities as a public good that serves academic freedom and democracy. Proposed sessions will help form a planned series, known as a Sawyer Seminar, submitted by Notre Dame for funding consideration to the Mellon Foundation. If funded, this Sawyer Seminar will, over the course of an academic year, “demonstrate through humanistic methods the ways in which a higher education system featuring a multiplicity of perspectives, thoughts, and voices is essential to a functional democracy.”
Proposed individual sessions may take the form of talks given by faculty at Notre Dame or other institutions, panel presentations, workshops, roundtable discussions, etc. To propose a session, submit a one-page description outlining:
- the topic and its relation to the theme,
- the format of the session,
- the relevance of the topic for the humanities, and
- the potential for impact in scholarship, higher education, and beyond.
ISLA will provide funding for faculty to host a number of these sessions in the 2025-2026 academic year in the event that the larger proposal is not selected.