Research Fridays
2022-23
Research Fridays: Grant Writing in the Humanities
November 11, 2022
In this informal session, we will discuss potential projects, grant opportunities and ideas, and everything to do with grant writing in the humanities and humanistic social sciences.
Spring '22 Residential Fellows’ Research Presentations
February 24, 2023
The HRC residential fellows for Spring '22 will each give presentations on their research during their fellowship, under the theme of "Race, Ethnicity and Social Justice."
How to Prepare a Successful Application for a Fulbright Scholar Award
March 17, 2023
The speakers for this event are Jill Blondin, Ph.D., Associate Vice Provost for Global Initiatives, and Jeff Wing, J.D., Assistant Dean and Director of the National Scholarship Office at VCU.
Prior Academic Years
Grants in the Humanities: How to Apply and Get Funded [video]
The speakers for this virtual event were Joshua Hahn, senior grant development specialist at VCU Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation, and Heather Lennon, director of sponsored programs for the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences.
2019-20 HRC Residential Fellows’ Research Presentations [video]
Previous HRC residential fellows Antonio Espinoza, Ph.D., Samaneh Oladi Ghadikolaei, Ph.D., Melis Hafez, Ph.D., and Rohan Kalyan, Ph.D. will share their research in progress and discuss the work they completed during their HRC residential fellowship.
Mentoring Underrepresented Minority Faculty [video]
The speaker for this virtual event was Archana A. Pathak, Ph.D., interim director of the Q Collective at VCU in the Office of Institutional Equity, Effectiveness and Success, and associate professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies.
Richmond Racial Equity Essays [video]
The speakers for this virtual event were Ebony Walden, urban planner and consultant, and Meghan Gough, Ph.D., associate professor in the VCU Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.
Academic Book Publishing
February 22, 2021
Led by Adina Popescu Berk, Ph.D., senior editor in history at Yale University Press.
Description
Discussed the process of preparation and submission of book manuscripts to university presses.
Hobbes and Hats
February 6, 2020
Led by Teresa Bejan, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford.
Description
The frontispiece of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan (1651) is the most analyzed image in the history of political thought, yet modern commentators have missed the fact that, in the crowd of common people, all the men are wearing their hats. This small point of haberdashery may seem trivial, but sometimes big ideas are conveyed by small gestures.
Breaking and Mending the Humanities Monograph
October 4, 2018
Led by Scott Norton, director of editing, design and production at the University of California Press
Description
This workshop will focus on the current plight of the humanities monograph, the factors that have contributed to a dramatic decline in sales over the past quarter century and practical strategies for making a humanities monograph successful in the new publishing ecosystem.
Applying for Humanities Research Center Residential Fellowships
October 23, 2018
Description
Each year the Humanities Research Center’s Residential Fellowship Program gives four faculty members who are working on related topics release from all teaching responsibilities in the spring semester so they can focus on their individual research projects and at the same time engage regularly with each other. The goal is to foster intellectual exchange and to enhance the quality of research at VCU by exposing faculty to different perspectives and methodologies. Applicants must demonstrate in their proposals the specific benefits to their individual projects they anticipate as a result of engaging with the other group members. The deadline for the group convening in spring 2020 is February 8, 2019. Successful groups in previous years have met and planned far ahead of the deadline to ensure an integrated and compelling application package.
This workshop will offer guidance to VCU faculty members in the humanities seeking to put together a compelling group application for a Humanities Research Center Residential Fellowship. Richard Godbeer, director of the Humanities Research Center, and Brooke Newman, associate director of the Humanities Research Center, will be on hand to answer questions and offer strategies for finding colleagues in different departments working on related topics.
All tenured and tenure-eligible members of faculty in the humanities at VCU are eligible to apply for these residential fellowships.
OpEd Project
April 5, 2019
Description
The OpEd Project is a social venture founded to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world.
The OpEd Project is a think tank and leadership organization founded to ensure that the full range of human voices is included in public conversation and debate. It seeks to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas that we hear. Its near term goal is to increase the volume of underrepresented thought leaders in key commentary forums. Partnering with universities, think tanks, non-profits, and corporations, the OpEd Project trains experts, especially underrepresented experts, to take thought leadership positions in their fields, connecting them with the OpEd Project’s network of high-level journalist mentors and channeling the best new experts and ideas to media across all platforms. It defines op-ed broadly, to mean “an idea of public value in any media platform.”
The OpEd Project’s highly dynamic curriculum is built on time-tested models of transformational learning, thinking with purpose, and changing minds. Games, high-stakes scenarios and live “thought experiments” will challenge participants to think in new and bigger ways about what they know, why it matters, and how to use it. Participants explore sources of credibility and how to establish it (quickly); the patterns and elements of persuasion; how to preach beyond the choir; how to escape a pigeonhole; how to address opposition and build consensus; and how to think bigger. Time permitting, participants will discuss strategies for pitching, and engage in triangulation exercises to think more expansively about their expertise.
Each participant will learn to make a bold case for their ideas, whether in an op-ed in print or online, on TV, before a board of directors, to potential funders, or on the steps of Congress. Participants will have ongoing access to The OpEd Project national network of journalist mentors, for individual feedback on their op-ed drafts.
Preparing a Book Manuscript for Submission to University Presses
October 17, 2017
Description
10:30 – 12:00 | Presentation followed by Q&A
12:15 – 2:00 | Lunch, accompanied by discussion of sample book proposals
Led by Elizabeth Sherburn Demers, senior acquisitions editor, American History and American Studies, and Catherine Goldstead, assistant acquisitions editor, Literary Studies and Chesapeake Regional, Johns Hopkins University Press.
Applying for Humanities Research Center Residential Fellowships
November 14, 2017
Description
Each year the Humanities Research Center’s Residential Fellowship Program gives four faculty members who are working on related topics release from all teaching responsibilities in the spring semester so that they can focus on their individual research projects and at the same time engage regularly with each other. The goal is to foster intellectual exchange and to enhance the quality of research at VCU by exposing faculty to different perspectives and methodologies. Applicants must demonstrate in their proposals the specific benefits to their individual projects that they anticipate as a result of engaging with the other group members. The deadline for the group convening in spring 2019 is February 9, 2018. Successful groups in previous years have met and planned far ahead of the deadline to ensure an integrated and compelling application package.
This workshop will offer guidance to VCU faculty members in the humanities seeking to put together a compelling group application for a Humanities Research Center residential fellowship. Richard Godbeer, director of the Humanities Research Center, and Brooke Newman, associate director of the Humanities Research Center, will be on hand to answer questions and offer strategies for finding colleagues in different departments working on related topics.
Why Podcasting? Podcasts and the Future of Storytelling
February 21, 2018
Description
Podcasts—downloadable audio programs—have been around for over a decade, but in recent years their popularity has exploded. Podcasts are everywhere these days, and more than a quarter of Americans age 12 or older listen to podcasts at least once a month. This Humanities Research Center workshop will explore the current boom of podcasting and how podcasts are revolutionizing the way that academics tell stories, disseminate their work to a wider audience, and develop connections with other academics and professionals across a range of industries.
Our guests include Liz Covart, digital projects editor at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, creator and host of the hugely popular history podcast “Ben Franklin’s World,” and Chioke I’Anson, underwriting voice of NPR, co-creator and host of the new NPR Story Lab podcast, “Do Over,” and instructor in the Department of African American Studies at VCU.
Applying for CHS Seed Grants
March 1, 2018
Description
Last fall, the Dean’s Office announced an important new program to fund faculty scholarship. The Scholarship Catalyst and Seed Awards are meant to foster research and scholarship in all fields across the College and are open to all full-time CHS faculty. Applications for Seed Awards (up to $5K) are due March 15.
This workshop will give humanities faculty applying for these seed grants an opportunity to share, discuss, and so refine their draft proposals.
How To Write A Lot, with author Paul J. Silvia
March 15, 2018
Description
All students and professors need to write, and many struggle to finish their dissertations, journal articles, book chapters, or grant proposals. Writing is hard work and can be difficult to wedge into a frenetic academic schedule. In his practical, light-hearted, and encouraging book "How To Write A Lot," Paul Silvia (professor of psychology, University of North Carolina, Greensboro) explains that writing productively does not require innate skills or special traits but specific tactics and actions. Drawing examples from his own field of psychology, he shows how to overcome motivational roadblocks and become prolific without sacrificing evenings, weekends, and vacations. After describing strategies for writing productively, Silvia gives detailed advice from the trenches on how to write, submit, revise, and resubmit articles, how to improve writing quality, and how to write and publish academic work.
Preparing for Annual Evaluations and Promotion Reviews
February 13, 2017
Description
A panel of faculty with extensive experience in the faculty evaluation process here at VCU and elsewhere, including Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs Winnie Chan, who is currently responsible for overseeing this process in our College, will be on hand to answer questions and address concerns about this sometimes perplexing and stressful part of our professional lives. The panel will discuss how best to prepare for each stage of the process and there will also be an update on recent changes in evaluation procedure at VCU.
Mentor-Hunting in the Academy
March 28, 2017
Description
This workshop will discuss strategies for finding advice and support from peers, from senior colleagues at one’s own institution, and from more experienced scholars within one’s academic field at other institutions.