Mellon Sawyer Seminars – Call for Applications:
Academic Freedom and Democracy in the American University
Internal Deadlines: Letter of Interest due October 9, 2024; Full Proposal due November 12, 2024
External Deadline: November 20, 2024
The Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminar program invites humanities-grounded, multidisciplinary proposals that meaningfully engage faculty, other academic leaders, and visitors from a variety of fields in the study of academic freedom and democracy in the American university.
This seminar program aims to engage productive scholars in multi-disciplinary and comparative inquiry that would in ordinary university circumstances be difficult to pursue, while at the same time avoiding the institutionalization of such work in new centers, departments, or programs. Sawyer Seminars are, in effect, temporary research centers.
This October marks the program’s 30th year. To observe this milestone, at a time when universities and humanities study are facing a myriad of unprecedented challenges, the foundation is reorienting the 2024 competition and beyond from the study of comparative cultures to the study of major social and political challenges that directly impact the structures, policies, and practices of the American university. This shift in focus celebrates the Sawyer Seminars’ original mission of elevating critical humanities scholarship while also reframing it for our present moment.
The subject to be considered this year is academic freedom and democracy in the American university. Competitive proposals will demonstrate the ways in which the humanities might reform or reimagine existing institutional structures and campus cultures. They might promise to amplify the work of a pre- existing institutional committee or envision a new committee or seminar-style initiative, with academic freedom and democracy in the American university as the central subject of inquiry. The foundation seeks to support seminars that 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.
The seminar should be led or co-led by faculty whose work is grounded in the humanities and who are based in any SBU school or college. The proposed seminarshould be a collaborative effort involving participation by scholars and administrators from across disciplines and units, with varying perspectives on the problem being addressed. In addition, applicants are encouraged to invite participants from nearby institutions, such as community colleges, liberal arts colleges, museums, research institutes, and local organizations to achieve interdisciplinary and community-engaged collaboration. Grant recipients would be expected to highlight and disseminate findings across campus units using a medium that best fits their campus context, such as a white paper or town hall.
As applicants consider potential approaches and methods of inquiry into the designated topic, the foundation encourages them to bear in mind that Mellon and the Higher Learning Program are fundamentally interested in themes of social and racial justice.
As Mellon reviews proposals, preference will be given to those that seek to:
- Bridge the gap between the socially equitable world envisioned in much humanities scholarship and the policies and practices characterizing today’s universities
- Empower humanists to be active participants in the strategic conversations and planning that many universities are engaged in or preparing to undertake
- Imagine new and revised university structures that would enhance the growth of the humanities and promote the realization of more just futures
Sawyer Seminar funds of up to $300,000 may support:
- One postdoc
- Up to two dissertation research fellows (in the form of graduate tuition or supplemental funding)
- Travel and living expenses for short stays by visiting scholars
- Costs associated with coordinating seminars, including meals, honoraria, consulting fees, and stipends.
Unlike in previous years, there are no required expenditures. Funds may not be used to cover released time for regular faculty participants, rentals of university space, or indirect costs. The first budget period must begin with July 1, 2025. To align with reporting dates that work for the institution, the first period may be longer or shorter than 12 months.
If the Sawyer Seminar proposal is accepted by the Mellon Foundation, the Office of the Provost and other leadership units will ensure that the seminar team is offered sufficient support in terms of budget management, appointment paperwork, award records, and point of contact, as needed.
Mellon will notify all applicants of selection decisions by late February 2025.
See the program page for more information. A list of previously funded seminars can be found here.
Internal Application Process and Deadlines
Interested faculty should submit a Letter of Interest to the Office of the Provost at Stony Brook University via the Mellon Foundation’s Sawyer Seminars internal submission portal by 11:59 pm on October 9, 2024. Details about the requirements of the Letter of Interest are provided in the internal submission portal, above. The selected Full Proposal will be due by the internal deadline of November 12, 2024, and will be submitted to the Mellon Foundation by the external deadline of November 20, 2024.
Full Proposal Guidelines:
If the Letter of Interest is selected, the applicant team’s Full Proposal is to be submitted here to the Office of the Provost by 11:59 pm on November 12, 2024.
The Full Proposal should include the following parts:
- Executive summary of c. 500 words:
- rationale for raising the indicated problem/topic
- main questions to be addressed
- potential significance of the inquiry to be pursued, including its impact on the institution
- Project description of c. 3,000-6,000 words containing the following:
- explanation of the specific topics/cases to be studied, and the humanities methodologies to be brought to bear upon them
- presentation of the thematic “threads” that will run throughout the seminar year
- evidence of buy-in and support from SBU administrative units
- Preliminary schedule for the year-long seminar outlining the following:
- specific topics to be addressed in each session
- names, titles, and affiliations of the scholars and community partners who would ideally participate, and a summary of the expertise they bring
- types of future resources that will summarize and institute the seminar’s findings
- Recruitment procedures for a postdoctoral fellow and/or dissertation research fellow(s), if these positions are envisioned. (Please note that the hiring of postdocs or awarding dissertation research fellowships is not a requirement this year.)
- Budget and budget description.
- Short CVs (1–2 pages) for each of the seminar organizers (lead PI and co-PIs). Information about other core participants should be limited to a few lines of text included as an additional Appendix page after the CVs.
- Endorsement letter signed by an institutional officer (in consultation with the Office of the Provost).
Note: Before Stony Brook University submits the final proposal to Mellon on or by November 20, the selected applicant team may receive feedback from the Office of the Provost.
Updated 9/19/24