Panel to examine 'Public Scholarship in the Interdisciplinary Arena'

The Interdisciplinary Studies Institute is presenting a panel discussion on “The Challenges of Engagement: Public Scholarship in the Interdisciplinary Arena” on Wednesday, April 24 at 4 p.m. in 904-08 Campus Center.

 

The event marks the culmination of this year’s ISI Faculty Seminar on “Engagement: The Challenge of Public Scholarship.” Members of the seminar will be present to participate in the discussion, and panelists will include Nicholas Bromell, English, on publication; Whitney Battle-Baptiste, Anthropology, on community engagement, and Elizabeth Chilton, Anthropology, on tenure and promotion.

 

The panel will highlight some of the benefits, opportunities and challenges of engaged and interdisciplinary scholarship at a time when issues such as affordability, accessibility, inclusion and the changing interactivities of technology are increasing to conduct work that is of broad relevance to society. The campus’s own strategic planning document highlights the ways a land grant and public research university has an obligation to serve various constituencies and communities. Engaged scholarship may have positive implications not only for the dissemination of knowledge but for our very forms of intellectual production. Yet those who undertake such work confront many difficulties, whether obtaining research funding, finding appropriate publication venues, or meeting tenure and promotion criteria. At the same time, definitions of what engagement and relevance mean may vary, quite legitimately, both within and across the disciplines.

 

Brief presentations will be followed by ample opportunity for discussion.

 

Following the event, there will be a reception at 6 p.m. at the University Club to celebrate the first year of the ISI’s existence.

 

For more information on the ISI, go to www.umass.edu/isi. Funding for the ISI comes from the provost, the dean of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts and the dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.