ACM’s SAIL seminars have been called “off-campus study for faculty” because each one includes an intensive ten-day on-site portion in which 15 professors from across the ACM representing the social sciences, natural sciences and math, and the arts and humanities study a topic from multiple perspectives.
The on-site experience may grab the most attention – not surprisingly, since this summer the Mediterranean Trivium seminar will take faculty to Italy – but the aim of the 18-month seminar is to support faculty as they create multi-disciplinary curricula for upper-level undergraduates.
As college juniors and seniors focus on their majors and more specialized classes, they may be less likely to take courses involving the integrative, multi-disciplinary explorations that characterize the liberal arts and the nature of most contemporary problems.
Supported by a generous grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Seminars in Advanced Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL) were established to give faculty a chance to engage with a compelling, complex topic in a location that offers resources to facilitate the inquiry. In turn, SAIL participants use their experience and learning in the seminar as a basis for developing advanced integrative, multi-disciplinary courses and modules for their own students.
ACM has issued a Call for Pre-Proposals, inviting three-person teams of faculty to propose topics and locations in the U.S. for the third SAIL seminar, which will hold its on-site portion in summer 2014. The SAIL selection committee will review pre-proposals and invite several teams to submit full proposals.
The faculty team whose proposal is selected will serve as the seminar’s leaders. Four groups of three professors from other ACM colleges will be selected through a competitive process this fall, for a total of 15 seminar participants.
The first SAIL seminar, Considering Animals, was based in Washington, DC, for its on-site portion in summer 2012, and the Mediterranean Trivium: Earth, Sea, & Culture, seminar group will travel to Italy on June 24-July 4 this year. Through the project’s five years, the seminars will alternate between domestic and international locations.
Travel, lodging, and meals for the on-site seminar are provided, and participants receive honoraria upon completion of curricular development projects. Visit the SAIL webpage for more information about the seminars and to download the pre-proposal instructions and application form. The deadline for pre-proposals has been extended to May 13. [Editor’s note: deadline updated from original article.]
Links:
- ACM-Mellon Seminars in Advanced Interdisciplinary Learning (SAIL)
- Download the Call for Pre-Proposals for the third SAIL seminar (on-site portion in summer 2014), including the application form and instructions
- SAIL Seminars:
Mediterranean Trivium: Earth, Sea, & Culture (on site in Italy in summer 2013)
Considering Animals (on site in Washington, DC in summer 2012)
