University Seminars

The George Washington University, an urban institution with a profound commitment to benefiting society by connecting academic research and discussion to the worlds of culture, business, science and politics in the nation's capital, presents a University Seminars series that addresses issues of public interest. This series represents the commitment of the University to the importance of the engaged citizen.

The George Washington University Seminars program was established in 1985 to foster sustained discussion of issues that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries among members of the GW faculty and their distinguished counterparts in universities, research centers, federal agencies, international organizations, and private industries throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Only topics that warrant intensive continuing inquiry are approved as organizing themes for the Seminars.

The goal of the Seminars is to connect the research and inquiry activities of the academy with the major institutions of society, thereby ensuring a sharing of information. University Seminars meet periodically during the academic year on the GW campus. The initial nucleus of each Seminar is a group of highly qualified faculty from a range of appropriate departments and schools and select participants from outside the University.

The chair of each Seminar serves as Convener. Distinguished guests are invited to give presentations. The presentations are designed to facilitate discussion that results in a product or process, such as publication, a shift of focus in a graduate program, or a contribution to public policy. Although some seminars are open to students, some, because of the nature of the topics and the desire to engage the participants in a full and frank discussion, are closed to those who are not members of the Seminar. A graduate student is appointed as logistical coordinator and rapporteur for each Seminar.

Persons interested in joining a particular Seminar should contact the Convener or the Office of the Associate Vice President for Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs. Call (202) 994-0514 for further details

2007-2008 Seminars

 Culture in Global Affairs
Convener: Dr. Barbara Miller, Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs

The Culture in Global Affairs Seminar Series is devoted to presentations and discussions that highlight the role of culture in important global affairs issues. Past seminars have addressed indigenous forms of post-conflict resolution in Africa, child labor, forced resettlement, culture and nationalism in Estonia, cultural heritage and development, development aid, reconstruction in Afghanistan, and cultural knowledge in the US military. In the 2007-2008 academic year, all CIGA seminars will link, directly or indirectly, to issues of human security, especially as related to development, population movements, resettlement, and livelihood. Participants include scholars, practitioners, and students; all seminars are open to the public. Speakers include local and international experts. The CIGA website provides a list of past seminars and audiocasts for some of them.

Diasporas, Policy, and Development
Convener: Liesl Riddle, Assistant Professor, International Business and International Affairs

This seminar focuses on international migrants who maintain attachment to and active involvement in the social, political, and economic life of both their country of origin and their new country. It supports and promotes research on migration and development and its dissemination to the policy community, featuring research initiatives underway at GW and bringing GW faculty into dialogue with researchers and policymakers in the Washington area practitioner community.

Latin American Seminar on Method and Theory
Convener: Sergio Waisman, Assistant Professor of Spanish

The objective of this Seminar is to explore collaboration with other area universities, pressing issues of theory and methodology in Latin American Studies, with a focus on language and literature, history, and anthropology, but also extending to sociology, political science, economics, art history, film, and music. The Seminar invites scholars who are undertaking innovative investigations in their fields to share their ground-breaking theoretical and methodological approaches.

Medical Humanities
Conveners: Katalin Roth, JD, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine; Dr. Linda Raphael, MA, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

This seminar explores the value of the humanities in medicine and health care by presenting a platform to increase communication and dialogue across some of the traditional boundaries that separate physicians, other health-care providers, academics, and laypeople. Creating such an avenue for communication can lead to curricular innovation in the Medical Center and application of the humanities in both medical training and practice.

Medieval and Early Modern Studies
Conveners: Jeffrey J. Cohen, PhD, Chair and Professor of English; Leah Chang, PhD, Assistant Professor of French; Holly Dugan, Assistant Professor of English; Gil Harris, Professor of English; Marcy Norton, Associate Professor of History; Linda Levy Peck, Professor of History; Lynn Westwater, Assistant Professor of Italian

The Medieval and Early Modern Studies Seminar offers an institutional space for the study of what might be called a globalized early Europe. The seminar brings together a committed cluster of scholars and students at GW, with an eye toward becoming a DC-wide community. Given the presence of the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Dumbarton Oaks research library, numerous postsecondary education institutions, and the proximity of so many cultural institutions, it seems natural that Washington, DC should be an internationally renowned place in which to study the art, history, and culture of early Europe, especially within a transnational frame.

Performance and the Mediation of Social Life
Conveners: Joel Kuipers, PhD, Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs and Human Sciences; Alex Dent, PhD, Assistant Professor of Anthropology; Siobhan Rigg, PhD, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and Art History

The growing field of performance studies has many different sources, but a common analytical and philosophical thread. In an increasingly media-saturated, symbol-rich world, it is no longer sufficient to examine representational forms as fundamentally separate from the things they depict. From this perspective, performance includes not only music, art, theatre and other traditionally defined expressive forms, but also the enactment of knowledge across situations and disciplines. Increasingly, scholars are recognizing the ways in which the processes of conveying and constituting meanings are deeply intertwined. Exploring this theme from a multidisciplinary perspective is the central purpose of this University Seminar.

Political Psychology
Convener: Jerrold M. Post, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology and International Affairs, Director of the Political Psychology Program

The mission of the University Seminar in Political Psychology is to explore both the theory and practice of political psychology. The Seminar attracts faculty and students from a range of programs in the Washington, DC area, including international affairs, political science, government, conflict resolution, international security, homeland security, psychiatry, psychology, anthropology, sociology, and computer science. Practitioners from law enforcement agencies, the intelligence community (CIA, DIA, NSA, FBI), and policy agencies (DOD, Department of State, and the National Security Council) regularly attend. In addition, the core group of attendees includes military officers and scholars working for think tanks and other non-profit organizations, both international and domestic such as the United States Institute of Peace, the Brookings Institute, and the American Institutes for Research.

Regionalism and Global Economic Development
Convener: Michael Moore, PhD, Professor of Economics and International Affairs

The University Seminar on “Regionalism and Global Economic Development” examines the consequences of expanded reliance on regional agreements. The focus is on the economic and political effects of this potentially profound change in the world’s economic organization. Topics include both the causes of regionalism and its impact on the multilateral trading system, US economic leadership, and the balance of power in a multi-polar world. Core participants consist of GW faculty members; faculty from Georgetown University, the University of Maryland, and the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); and professionals from organizations such as International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Trade Commission (ITC), and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Translational Research and Development
Conveners: Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine (MITM); Dr. Fatah Kashanchi, Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi, Associate Research Professor and Vice Chair for Administration (MITM)

Translational medicine is a branch of medical research that attempts to more directly connect basic research to clinical applications with the ultimate goal to accelerate the development and the reach to the populations in need of real preventive disease applications, novel therapies and/or new diagnostic tools. To do so there is a need to incorporate new training educational programs and research collaborations within and between broad disciplines.

The major goal of this Seminar is to stimulate new ways of combining skills and disciplines in the physical and biological sciences and integrating them with the product, regulatory and business environment. This program will encourage investigators to pursue creative, unexplored avenues of research and funding mechanisms that could lead to groundbreaking discoveries and applications to health care. In addition, the program will foster novel partnerships, such as those between the public and private sectors that might accelerate the movement of scientific discoveries from the bench to the bedside.

U.S. Urban Studies
Convener: Chad Heap, PhD, Professor of American Studies; Dylan Conger, PhD, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration; Chris Klemek, PhD, Assistant Professor of History
This Seminar is designed to encourage cross-disciplinary discussion of topics and approaches in urban studies and engages scholars and experts from a wide variety of disciplines. Topics of investigation and discussion may include urban development, suburbanization, race politics, urban cultures, transportation policy, immigration, and education, among others. The Urban Studies Seminar provides a rare forum for scholars in the humanities, social sciences, and public policy to come together to discuss critical contemporary and historical urban issues and to share perspectives and approaches.

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Call for University Seminar Proposals

TO:     All Regular Active-Status Faculty
RE:     University Seminars Call for Proposals

The George Washington University Seminars program was established in 1985 to foster sustained discussion of issues that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries among members of the GW faculty and their distinguished counterparts in universities, research centers, federal agencies, international organizations, and private industry throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.  Only topics that warrant intensive continuing inquiry are approved as organizing themes for the Seminars.

All faculty, including those who are currently conducting a seminar, are invited to submit proposals for a 2008-2009 University Seminar.

The goal of the Seminars is to connect the traditional research and inquiry activities of the academy with the major institutions of society, thereby ensuring an exchange of perspectives and information.  University Seminars meet periodically during the academic year on the GW campus.  The initial nucleus of each Seminar is a group of highly qualified faculty from a range of appropriate departments and schools, along with distinguished individuals from outside the GW academic community.

The chair of each Seminar serves as convener.  Distinguished guests may be invited to give presentations to stimulate discussion.  However, the goal is to encourage dialogue on issues of importance in such a way that there are demonstrable outcomes such as publications, white papers, grant proposals, curriculum reforms, or contributions to public policy.  The University Seminar should not be perceived as a lecture series.  A graduate student is appointed as logistical coordinator and rapporteur for each Seminar.  Each seminar receives funding of up to $2,500 annually.  For current conveners of seminars, the proposal for next year should include an annual report of 2007-2008 activities, including names and affiliations of core participants, events, and attendance data for events.  See www.gwu.edu/~gsaa/seminars.html for the 2007-2008 Seminars.

Call for University Seminar Proposals
The deadline for 2008-2009 University Seminar Proposals is Wednesday, MAY 21, 2008.  Proposals should include the following:

• A discussion of the topic to be addressed and its importance.
• Names, departmental affiliations, and expertise of faculty who are committed to being a part of the Seminar.
• Names, professional affiliations, and expertise of individuals outside the University who are committed to being a part of the Seminar.
• A plan of action for Academic Year FY 08-09, including specific events and activities.
• A discussion of how the Seminar will connect academic research and inquiry to the world outside the University and/or to larger issues in the areas of culture, business, policy, science, or other areas of similar dimension.
• A discussion of anticipated outcomes, processes and/or products.

The proposal should not exceed five pages of 12 pt., double-spaced copy.
Proposals should be directed to the office of Carol K. Sigelman, Associate Vice President for Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs, Suite 603, Rice Hall, 2121 Eye Street, Washington, DC  20052.  Electronic submissions are preferred and should be sent to gbeverly@gwu.edu.

Please submit proposals to:
     Dr. Carol Sigelman
     Office of Graduate Studies and Academic Affairs
     The George Washington University
     Suite 603, 2121 Eye  St. NW
     Washington, D.C. 20052

For more information, contact the Office of the Associate Vice President
2121 Eye Street, NW, Rice Hall 603 / Washington, DC 20052
(202) 994-0514 / gbeverly@gwu.edu