Grants will fuel humanities projects, events across system
Some 14 projects across the University of Colorado system will share $37,751 in grants awarded by the President’s Fund for the Humanities.
The Advisory Board for the President’s Fund for the Humanities met in the fall and recommended funding for the 2012-13 proposals. Overall, 19 proposals were submitted, requesting $51,894. The selection committee decided to offer the remaining available funds as mini-grants during spring 2013 (click here for details).
The President’s Fund for the Humanities was established to preserve a balance in the university’s programs of education and research by giving special attention to the humanities. Proposals might include: seminars in humanistic studies; public programs in the humanities; innovative teaching in the humanities; or requests for lectures or exhibits by visiting scholars. The fund might also support projects that involve interdisciplinary teaching, increase the visibility of the humanities, emphasize humanistic values or address special social problems in a humanistic context.
A summary of the distribution of the proposals, funding requests and funding awarded, by campus:
| Submitted | Funded | % Awarded | Amount Requested | Amount Funded | |
| CU-Boulder | 11 | 7 | 64% | $28,744 | $17,976 |
| UCCS | 5 | 5 | 100% | $14,150 | $13,775 |
| CU Denver | 3 | 2 | 66% | $9,000 | $6,000 |
| Total | 19 | 14 | 74% | $51,894 | $37,751 |
While projects are listed below under the campus of the main applicant, some proposals that were funded will involve more than one campus, and all involve outreach to the university and wider community.
| Name/Title | Campus | Amount Awarded |
| Visiting Artist Alec Soth and the Denver Month of PhotographyCarol Golemboski, Visual Arts | Denver | $3,000 |
| This project includes a public lecture on the Denver campus by contemporary photographer Alec Soth and a workshop on publishing for Photography students in the College of Arts and Media at CU Denver. The event coincides with Denver’s bi-annual Month of Photography in March 2013. | ||
| ChitChat – Mashup Talks on Contemporary Culture & DIY
Matthew Barton, Visual and Performing Arts |
Colorado Springs | $3,000 |
| ChitChat is a series of mash-up lectures on contemporary culture and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) topics. The two featured topics are selected in “mash-up” style, which is described as unrelated cultural components coming together in unique, surprising and intellectually delightful fashion. | ||
| The Color of Christ: Race, Religion and Power in American History
Paul Harvey, History |
Colorado Springs | $3,000 |
| This project will develop a lecture/discussion/symposium series at UCCS around issues of race, religion and power in American History. Invitees include two nationally prominent scholars in religion, race and evangelicalism in American history: Edward J. Blum of San Diego State University and Jason Bivins of North Carolina State University. | ||
| Reading Ice and Remixing the Sustainability IssueNancy Hightower, Program for Writing and Rhetoric | Boulder | $3,000 |
| Paul D. Miller, aka DJ Spooky, will give a multimedia presentation on how using digital art, media and app technology can enable students to become creative stakeholders regarding climate change and sustainability practices. Musicians from the CU Music Department will perform some of Miller’s compositions during the presentation. | ||
| New Perspectives on Medieval Chinese Poetry
Paul W. Kroll, Asian Languages and Civilizations |
Boulder | $3,000 |
| This two-day conference will address subjects of central importance to the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations and will attract visitors from the larger Sinological community in the United States. It will feature eight presenters who are leaders in the field of medieval Chinese Poetry. | ||
| Bloody Bloody Andrew JacksonKevin Landis, Visual and Performing Arts | Colorado Springs | $3,000 |
| The Department of Visual and Performing Art will produce the hit Broadway musical, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson (BBAJ) as its main stage student production of the 2012-13 season. BBAJ is a rock musical that chronicles the life of President Andrew Jackson. The original producer and author of BBAJ, Oskar Eustis and Michael Friedman, will come to Colorado to view the production and give a lecture. | ||
| What is a Slave Society? An International Conference
Noel Lenski, Classics / Catherine Cameron, Anthropology |
Boulder | $3,000 |
| This event will assemble 16 major scholars from across a variety of disciplines to examine the question of whether there is such a thing as a “slave society,” a concept used by Western historians to characterize particular socio-political settings in which slavery is particularly prevalent. | ||
| What the Body Told: Exhibit and Presentation Series
Therese Jones, Medicine / Travis Vermilye, Visual Art |
Denver | $3,000 |
| The theme of three art exhibits in the inaugural year of the new art gallery at the Fulginiti Pavilion for Bioethics and Humanities on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus is inspired by the work of Rafael Campo, a poet and physician at Harvard University. Curated by Simon Zalkind, the exhibits will bring current work from four major American artists – Albert Winn; Judy Chicago and Donald Woodman; and Eric Schwartz – who work in a variety of media and who explore the complexity of the body as a biomedical, cultural, political, social and imaginative construct. | ||
| Michael Heller Poetry Reading
Kirsten Bartholomew Ortega, English / Lesley Ginsberg, English |
Colorado Springs | $2,150 |
| The English Department will bring poet Michael Heller to UCCS to give a poetry reading and book signing. His poetry covers varied topics such as his Jewish identity; his world travels, including his experiences living part-time in Colorado; and his involvement with the Objectivist poetry movement. | ||
| Religion and Violence: Terrorism, Provocation and Solutions
Jeffrey Scholes, Philosophy |
Colorado Springs | $3,000 |
| This event on the UCCS campus will feature a panel that will discuss the work of Mark Jeurgensmeyer on the relationship between religion and violence. Following the lecture by Professor Jeurgensmeyer, a panel of UCCS faculty will engage the lecture in terms of history, theology, politics and ideology. The event will cover the theoretical and practical implications for the role that religion plays in violence both abroad and at home, as well as the potential for religion to work towards peace. | ||
| Rocky Mountain Philosophy Conference
David Barnett, Philosophy |
Boulder | $1,789 |
| The Rokcy Mountain Philosophy Conference (RMPC) is a scholarly philosophy conference that plays host to undergraduate and graduate students from around the country. This year’s conference will feature keynotes by Professors Ruth Chang (Harvard University), Elizabeth Harman (Princeton University) and Edwin Curley (University of Michigan) – some of the foremost philosophers in the English-speaking world. | ||
| &NOW 7: Off the Road – A Festival of New Writing
Jeffrey DeShell, English / Elisabeth Sheffield, English |
Boulder | $3,000 |
| The Department of English will bring novelist and critic Lynne Tillman to give the keynote address for &NOW 7 – Off the Road: A Festival of New Writing, a literary conference to be held Sept. 26-28, 2013 at the Boulder Campus. A 2006 Guggenheim fellow and a prominent figure in New York’s downtown art and literary scenes for decades, Tillman is the author of five novels, four story collections and three nonfiction books. | ||
| 2013 Society of Christian Philosophers Mountain-Pacific Region Conference
Robert Pasnau, Philosophy |
Boulder | $1,187 |
| The CU-Boulder Philosophy Department will host the 2013 Society of Christian Philosophers Mountain-Pacific Region Conference. The conference welcomes students and faculty, Christian and non-Christian, to attend the conference’s three invited addresses and 21 paper presentations. | ||