Professors as Authors: Friday, Feb. 3, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Why do editors choose some books and reject others? How does a scholarly author decide where to submit a project? Why is a dissertation not a book?
National expert William Germano – author of Getting it Published: a Guide for Scholars and Anyone Else Serious about Books (University of Chicago Press, 2001) and From Dissertation to Book (Chicago, 2005) – will answer these and other questions in this seminar-style workshop. Co-sponsored with three other liberal arts colleges and the Academic Career Network, it will include tips on how scholars can best present themselves and their project, the architecture of scholarly writing, voice and the dynamic between publisher and author.
“Scholarly publishing is a big, noisy, conversation about the ideas that shape our world,” Germano has written.
The workshop will be in seminar format and has a limit of 20 participants. Junior faculty will be given preference, but senior faculty members who are working on books are also urged to apply. Participants must provide a CV and a book proposal (not to exceed five pages) by Jan. 21. The proposal may be for a manuscript in progress or for a more speculative project.
Germano, who holds a Ph.D. in English, is a veteran editor of both the university press and commercial worlds. He has served as editor-in-chief at Columbia University Press and as vice president and publishing director at Routledge. Among the authors he has published are Cornel West, Judith Butler, Stephen Greenblatt, Jacques Derrida, Marjorie Garber, bell hooks, Slavoj Zizek, David Halperin and Kate Bornstein.
Research Expectations and Funding Opportunities for Tenure-Track Faculty:
Saturday, Feb. 4, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Everest Lounge
This workshop for junior faculty is open to faculty from Union, Skidmore, Colgate and Hamilton colleges and sponsored by the Mellon-Four College Consortium.
The first session, “Expectations and Mentoring,” will feature a panel of senior faculty members who have served on the Faculty Review Board or its equivalent. The second session, “Research Funding Opportunities,” features Jane Aiken, National Endowment for the Humanities Senior Program Officer, Division of Research Programs, and Muriel Poston, dean of faculty at Skidmore. In 2002 Poston became a program director with the National Science Foundation; 18 months later, she was named deputy division director for its Division of Biological Infrastructure.
Participants are asked to attend both sessions of each workshop. For information or to register, contact Kathy Basirico at basirick@union.edu.