Initiative Supports Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education Innovation in the Arts and Humanities

The Humanities Research Institute (HRI) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has announced the inaugural Interseminars project, led by professors Carolyn Fornoff of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Josue David Cisneros of the Department of Communication and Patrick Earl Hammie of the School of Art and Design.

Funded by a $2,000,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Interseminars Initiative will fund three such projects over three successive years, each selected through a competitive application process. This initiative represents the latest thinking on how best to practice a genuinely collaborative and equitable commitment to graduate training in the public research university of the 21st century.

In Interseminars, faculty and graduate students have the opportunity to collaborate in the design of cross-departmental and cross-college courses, with funding for key aspects of that work: co-curricular programming, shared research experiences and fellowship support for students, particularly those historically underrepresented in higher education. Later this month, HRI will post a call for applications to select up to eight graduate fellows to participate in the project’s two summer intensives, interdisciplinary methods seminar and themed seminar course, and to engage in collaborative research with the faculty co-leaders. Each project spans an 18-month period, culminating in a community event.

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