Program Description

University of Chicago Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation Visiting Scholar Program

Important Dates (for year-one applicants):

  • 3/15/09: Application deadline
  • 4/3/09: Decisions announce
  • 10/3&4/09: Orientation session in Paris
  • 1/4/10: Appointment in Chicago begins
  • 6/18/10: Appointment in Chicago ends
  • Autumn, 2012: Capstone Conference in Paris

Rationale

The creation of the new Europe is in many ways one of the most ambitious political and cultural experiments of the 21st century. The multinational character of the European Union’s political and economic entities has blurred national boundaries and led to new goals and structures for higher education. In this context, European universities have embarked on a process of renewal and reform which provides a unique occasion for scholars to inquire into the purposes and practices of higher education in general and to address in particular the question of the role of liberal education in the European universities of the twenty-first century.

Since its founding over a century ago, the University of Chicago has been an innovative leader in liberal education. While many details of our curriculum have changed over the years, our intellectual commitment to a rigorous Core curriculum of general education has remained constant. The objective of faculty-taught general education courses, which make up the main course component for first- and second-year undergraduates, is to introduce students to fundamental questions and to encourage critical and analytical skills that are essential to becoming a well-informed global citizen.

While general education courses provide a foundation for intellectual inquiry, the concentration (or major) provides in-depth knowledge in a defined field. Undergraduates at the University of Chicago may concentrate in a traditional academic discipline or in an interdisciplinary program. Chicago has a long tradition of supporting scholarship that transcends the boundaries between disciplines. In this spirit, students are also encouraged to take elective courses outside their concentration in order to give breadth and balance that the University believes is critical to a true liberal education. Electives include courses in other fields, study abroad programs, and advanced training in a foreign language.

This three-pronged curriculum at the University of Chicago prepares young women and men not only to enter the job market or go on to graduate programs, but to be critical thinkers and responsible citizens in an increasingly interconnected world. Mindful of this latter point, the University of Chicago also has a long history of international education and exchange. In addition to offering a great variety of study abroad programs, the University has periodically hosted foreign visiting faculty to teach undergraduate and graduate courses. Programs involving foreign visiting faculty have usually concentrated on a specific field, such as European History.

For each of the next three years Chicago will recruit two young faculty members, at a level equivalent to that of Assistant Professor, from a group of universities and other advanced academic research institutions in Central Europe, to teach in the College for two quarters. We believe it is important to develop direct links to younger faculty who are in early stages of their careers not only because they bring a sense of discovery and vitality, but because they will be the ones to shape the future in the quickly changing landscape of the university in Central Europe. Additionally, an opportunity for young scholars from this region to spend two quarters at the University of Chicago, including one quarter teaching an undergraduate Core course, will not only introduce them to the Chicago model of liberal education, but will be a tremendous boost to their scholarship and careers. It would likewise greatly benefit University of Chicago students and faculty by providing an energetic infusion of new ideas and approaches.

At the end of the three years, a two-day wrap-up conference is planned at the University of Chicago’s Paris Center for all of the visiting scholars and those Chicago faculty members who have participated in the program. This conference will provide all of those involved with an opportunity to analyze and synthesize their experiences over the past three years, to review the progress of curricular reform, and to strengthen their ties to one another. The conference will be shaped around a collaborative effort in curriculum development where the European faculty could work together with colleagues from Chicago on opportunities and strategies for curricular reform in the liberal arts.

The Endeavor Foundation Chicago Scholars Program will foster a spirit of collaborative research, reflection, and teaching in keeping with the University of Chicago’s tradition of liberal education and engagement with Europe, leading to an enriched understanding of the possibilities for liberal learning in a changing Europe not only during the term of this program, but also in the following decades as the careers of these scholars evolve and network connections begun by the program expand.

Program Details

Visiting faculty will be drawn from a variety of institutions and disciplines in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, and the Baltic States. Our overriding concern is to identify and recruit the most dynamic younger faculty.

Selection Process

Applications will include, as usual, publications and/or dissertation chapters (or their equivalent) and letters from supervising faculty at the home institution. We will also provide applicants with background information about the teaching expectations associated with Chicago’s curriculum and ask each for a statement on teaching experience and interests. A selection committee of four to six Chicago faculty members will review the applications, enlist the assistance of colleagues in Europe where appropriate, and conduct telephone interviews. The committee will bring additional colleagues into the process if the work of the applicant requires particular expertise.

Orientation

A two-day orientation session at the University’s Center in Paris will be organized in the Autumn prior to the six-month Chicago residency of each cohort. The purpose of the session is to introduce the scholars to each other, provide more information about their upcoming residency, and acquaint them with the University’s Center in Paris, which will be the site of the Capstone Conference in Year 3 of the program and where we hope many of these scholars will return to teach and interact in the years to come.

Residency in Chicago

During the Winter and Spring quarters of each of the three years of the initiative, two young scholars will come to Chicago to teach and conduct research. During the first quarter of their residency, they will participate in one or more Council on Advanced Studies (CAS) workshops, participate in the life of the disciplinary department that hosts them, and participate in pedagogical workshops on the College’s teaching styles and techniques. In the Spring quarter they will continue the activities of the Winter, with the addition of teaching in the Humanities or Social Science Core, the University’s emblematic general education courses. They may also teach a specialized course based on their area of research, co-teach a course with a University of Chicago faculty member, or co-teach a course with another visiting scholar. During these six months, the University will secure lodging for the visitors and will provide academic and logistical support.

We are eager both to encourage the young European faculty to become comfortable in the American system of higher education and to maximize the benefit they provide to our own faculty and students. We also want to provide opportunities for the visitors to grow as scholars in their own fields of specialization. In practice, each visiting scholar will be placed in a host department and in an interdisciplinary workshop, in with encouragement to be a full and active participant, and each scholar will be matched with a faculty mentor and with a Core course staff to insure that his or her experience at Chicago includes full exposure to both the teaching and research aspects of our faculty’s work. These mentors can assist with the perpetual challenge of integration with the intellectual community, and provide immediate collegiality for the visitors. The first quarter of the visiting scholars’ residence will acquaint them with the style and substance of scholarly discourse in their field at the University before they begin teaching their own course in the second quarter of their residence. It will also allow the University community to learn about the visiting faculty member’s work and distinct perspective. This integration will facilitate effective interaction between the faculty and our students both during their residence in Chicago and, we hope, in the future, most notably at the Center in Paris.

Capstone Conference

The culmination of the Endeavor Foundation Chicago Scholars Program will be a Capstone Conference, to be scheduled for the Autumn Quarter of 2012 and to which all six Endeavor visiting scholars and their faculty mentors from the Chicago faculty will be invited. Participants will be asked to offer reflections on the prospects for liberal education in Europe based upon their experiences in Chicago and at their home institutions. As a collaborative effort in curriculum development, the conference will draw on the individual and collective experiences of all of the Scholars with the goal of defining specific strategies for shaping liberal education in the European context.

As a symbolic representation of both Chicago and Europe, the University of Chicago Center in Paris will be the venue for the conference. This location will also provide an opportunity to further acquaint the scholars with the Paris Center and to extend an invitation to become part of an informal European community of scholars who might teach or be granted research residency at the Center in the future.