Course-Release for Study in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition
Invitation to Faculty
The Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA) is coordinating a University-wide opportunity that is part of the Notre Dame Initiative on Catholic Traditions and Faculty Engagement (CTFE). This initiative is designed to familiarize faculty members with Catholic traditions, so that they might feel more at home within the distinctive identity of Notre Dame and in some cases might integrate this rich tradition of thought into their teaching and research.
The Course-Release for Study in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition will provide up to four non-Theology faculty members a release from one-course of teaching. Regular faculty members from any College or School in the University are eligible to participate. $7,500 will be granted to the faculty member's college or school to assist with replacement teaching.
The course release can be granted to carry out an individualized study program or to participate in a graduate seminar to learn how the Catholic intellectual traditions might inform one’s own disciplinary work. For example, an economist who studies poverty and third-world development or a biologist who works on infectious diseases in developing countries might participate in a doctoral seminar on Catholic social thought. A developmental psychologist could focus on narratives of conversion and spiritual development in the Hebrew prophets and in the writings of women mystics and compare those narratives to models of psychological and moral development expounded by contemporary scholars. A business or engineering professor engaged in the ethical implications of his or her disciplinary work might pursue focused readings in Christian ethics. An architecture professor who specializes in sacred spaces might take a graduate course on the history of liturgy. A law professor might participate in a graduate seminar on the philosophy of religion or on ethics. A scientist might pursue a set of readings in Catholic systematic theology or in metaphysics. These possibilities are meant to be illustrative, not limiting.
To get a sense of the kinds of graduate seminars offered in theology and philosophy, please see their department websites: http://www.nd.edu/~theo/courses/phd_current.html or http://philosophy.nd.edu/courses/grad/.
As course offerings change each year, these courses are merely representative of the kinds of offerings at the graduate level. Other departments, such as History, Political Science, and English, could also have appropriate graduate offerings. To participate in a graduate seminar, you must have the permission of the faculty member directing the seminar. To carry out an individualized study program you need to have a set of readings chosen with advice from a scholar with theological or philosophical expertise.
Participating faculty members will be expected to integrate material related to the Catholic intellectual tradition into some of their undergraduate or graduate courses. Ideally, some participants will find that their research is also enriched by these perspectives.
If you are interested in this opportunity but aren’t sure about what course of study to pursue, you are encouraged to contact Ken Garcia in ISLA (kgarcia@nd.edu, 1-6494) as soon as possible to share your ideas and thoughts, and explore a possible program of study. ISLA will try to link you with a faculty member in Theology or Philosophy (or other discipline as appropriate) who can give advice on appropriate readings and who may be willing to meet with you occasionally to discuss ideas. If you already know a faculty member whose advice you wish to seek, you may, of course, contact them directly.
The application deadline is January 26, 2007. A formal application consists in
1) a two to four page letter;
This should describe your current areas of teaching and research and outline the course of study you would like to undertake. Please note in the application if there is a specific semester and year in which you prefer to take the course release, and if your schedule allows you to be flexible (depending on faculty interest, we may ask some faculty to defer their study to the following year). This letter should also include a discussion of how you think you could integrate the material to be studied into your courses and possibly research. If you plan to participate in a graduate seminar, please show that you have obtained permission of the faculty member directing the seminar.
2) a two-page CV;
3) a letter of support from your department chair. The chair’s letter should confirm permission to be released from one course and comment on the fit of the proposed course in the department’s curriculum. The chair’s letter may accompany the application or be sent directly to ISLA.
4) The dean of your college must pre-approve your application by signing it.
Applications will be sifted by a cross-college committee, and the final decisions will be made in the Office of the Provost.
Please submit your application materials by January 26, 2007 to Kenneth Garcia, Associate Director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, 101 O’Shaughnessy Hall.