English Department Campaign Proposals
ENGAGING HUMAN COMMUNITY THROUGH LITERACY
Overall Goals: Proposals in the following categories apply the research expertise of the English faculty to enhance undergraduate and graduate education, especially in areas of improved writing, critical thinking, and analytical skills, and improved understanding of cultural diversity and human community; and to extend the impact of its literature and writing programs to the whole campus, the state of Oregon, and the worldwide community of teachers. Contact: Henry Wonham, Department Head
Writing Initiatives: Proposals to enhance student writing in all disciplines across campus through the outreach activities of the Center for Teaching Writing and through expanded activities for students in the Department's Composition Program. Costs of proposals range from $20,000 to $40,000 annually or $500,000 to $1.2 million in endowments for perpetuity.
Enhanced Opportunities for Students: Proposals to enhance opportunities for English majors to study collaboratively with faculty and participate in research, and to be more fully prepared for a wide range of professional careers; and to improve the English Department's ability to recruit the best graduate students in areas of excellence in the Department. Costs of individual proposals range from $15,000 to $70,000 annually or $375,000 to $1.75 million in endowments for perpetuity.
Northwest Review: Proposals to sustain the University's prestigious literary review, to create links to academics and enable undergraduate students to benefit from access to literary editing internships, to develop stronger outreach to the region and internationally, and to achieve the Review's potential to be a top-rated literary publication. Costs of individual proposals range from $25,000 to $35,000 annually or $625,000 to $875,000 in endowments for perpetuity.
Literature and the Environment: Proposals create a Center to promote research and teaching and to increase the impact of literary research on environmental issues. Costs of individual proposals range from $25,000 to $40,000 annually or $625,000 to $1 million in endowments for perpetuity.
Shakespeare Institute: Proposals to promote the study of Shakespeare and his world, establish a connection between research and performance, and enable students to work with visiting professionals and travel internationally to attend performances. Costs of individual proposals range from $25,000 to $50,000 annually or $625,000 to $1.25 million in endowments for perpetuity.
Ethnic American Literary Studies: Proposals to enhance an area of study to which the English Department has demonstrated significant commitment, through named professorships, and efforts to increase recruitment and retention of students studying cultural diversity. Costs of individual proposals range from $50,000 to $100,000 annually or 1.25 million to $2.5 million in endowments for perpetuity.
Film Studies: Proposals build on interdisciplinary strengths to achieve prominence in Film and Media Studies, enabling students to become more aware of the aesthetics and impact of visual media, and uniquely training students to work in an industry in which the state is investing. Costs of proposals range from $25,000 to $75,000 annually or $625,000 to $1.8 million in endowments for perpetuity.
Ethical Public Debate: Proposals to bring the research expertise of faculty to bear on questions of ethical debate in society, through collaborations between students and scholars, and publications that will encourage the teaching of ethical reasoning in all fields. Costs of individual proposals range from $25,000 to $150,000 annually or $1.5 million in endowment for perpetuity.
Writing Initiatives: Center for Teaching Writing
Goals: Improvement of student writing in all disciplines by providing campus-wide programs, resources for faculty, and leadership in promoting writing as a tool for learning in all courses. The Center promotes this goal by teaching faculty in any field how to enhance students' writing and critical thinking abilities in relation to the subject matter of any course.
Importance and Impact: Improving student writing, and related skills (reading, critical thinking, oral proficiency), in all fields of study, across campus and throughout the state, is necessary for students' academic success, professional opportunities, and effective participation in citizenship.
Feasibility: The Center for Teaching Writing, founded in 1997, is the outreach and research arm of the English Department's nationally-prominent composition program. It incorporates the expertise of the Department's scholars and teachers of rhetoric and composition to promote better student writing and the use of writing to enhance learning in all disciplines. The Center has taught computer-assisted teaching of writing, faculty and GTF workshops on writing in the disciplines, and it has sponsored state-wide conferences for writing teachers, developed a successful community literacy internship program, and produced publications for teachers.
Proposals:
- Workshops for Faculty in all departments focused on incorporating more writing and improved writing assignments in their courses. Issues addressed include the use of "writing to learn," writing assignments that teach critical thinking, assessment of writing in content-based courses, and how to incorporate more writing effectively.
- A Central Resource-Base for faculty wanting to improve their students' writing in the context of their own teaching. Resources include consultation with faculty experts in the teaching of writing and writing across-the-curriculum, assistance in developing writing intensive courses in all departments, practical guides for using writing in any course, and a web-site on improvement of student writing with useful links.
- Oregon Conference on Rhetoric and Composition: Founded by the UO English Department in 1989 and now sponsored by the Center, this annual Spring conference brings together teachers of composition from colleges and high schools in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest to share research on the teaching of writing, with nationally prominent scholars as keynote speakers.
- Occasional Papers: The Center publishes conference keynote addresses and other scholarly work dealing with the teaching of writing in booklets distributed free to teachers. It also published a booklet on reading in preparation for college sent to all Oregon high schools.
- Oregon Writing Project: Founded in 1977 as a charter site for the National Writing Project, this annual summer program trains Oregon high school teachers in writing. The OWP has been funded by grants and tuition and has been loosely affiliated with the English Department; bringing it into the structure of the Center for Teaching Writing would sustain it into the future and provide it with a stronger connection to the other outreach activities of the Center.
- Community Literacy Internships: In conjunction with a course on Theories of Literacy, students apply their knowledge in supervised participatory learning settings, working in local agencies such as public assistance, family shelters, public schools, and the juvenile justice system.
Annual Budget Needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Director of Center (.5 FTE) $40,000 $1.2 million
Assistant Director $25,000 $625,000
Workshops and publications $20,000 $500,000
Oregon Conference $15,000 $325,000
Oregon Writing Project $30,000 $875,000
(to meet match by National Writing Project)
Community Literacy $20,000 $500,000
Writing Initiatives: Composition Program Enhancements
Goal: To broaden and enrich the English Department's teaching of writing to UO students in all fields in its composition courses.
Importance and Impact: Writing skills are a central concern of all teachers and of employers. Critical thinking and civil argumentative skills that writing instruction properly develops are basic foundations of an open democratic society. The English Department would use new funding to extend its teaching to provide students with a variety of opportunities to enhance their communication skills, develop writing and speaking skills in specialized fields, practice writing in practical professional situations, and study the theories and principles of ethical civil discourse.
Feasibility: The composition program of the English Department has for many years maintained its leadership nationally in the teaching of college composition as reasoned inquiry, addressing writing skills from the perspective of the practice of argumentation. It is widely respected for its graduate student teacher training program, a model for the development of such programs at many other universities. Faculty in the field of rhetoric are nationally prominent as experts of writing pedagogy. The program has consistently taught Scientific and Technical Writing and Business Writing, and has successfully piloted an Oregon English Scholars Summer Bridge program and pre-law writing courses.
Proposals:
- Service Learning in Composition Courses: In special sections of required college composition courses, students would supplement their classroom experience with supervised internships in local agencies or businesses, broadening and enriching the perspectives from which they write on issues related to these settings.
- Information Literacy: In cooperation with Knight Library, this initiative would integrate into the required composition courses topics and assignments designed to enable students to have greater access to and control over information technologies.
- Professional Writing Distinction: A program to enable students in all majors to earn a distinction in professional writing, by taking courses in writing for business and science, and studying the role of writing in professional disciplines. It would include an internship experience and a career workshop.
- Oregon English Summer Scholars: A summer bridge program designed to provide a tuition-free summer prior to the freshman year for students whose success in college and retention at the University depends on early, intensive work in writing, taught in a small learning community. The program includes a course in which guest faculty help to prepare students for the intellectual adjustment to college-level work.
- Writing for Pre-Law Students: Based on the strength of the composition program's emphasis on reasoned argumentative writing, advanced composition courses will be designed to serve the needs of pre-law students, or others preparing for professional post-graduate degrees. Writing will be in the form of logically structured essays, on topics of relevance to the legal profession.
- Writing Associates: This program would train selected advanced undergraduates to serve as writing tutors assigned to lower-division subject-matter courses, providing peer assistance to students on all aspects of writing assignments for the course. The training, which would benefit especially students preparing to become teachers in any field, would include a survey of writing pedagogy and the techniques and ethics of tutoring. Writing Associates from and for English majors have been successfully taught and assigned to courses in English for three years; this proposal would expand the program to include students and courses in other majors.
Annual Budget needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Service Learning $15,000 $375,000
Information Literacy $25,000 $625,000
Professional Writing Distinction $35,000 $875,000
English Summer Scholars $35,000 $875,000
Writing for Pre-Law $15,000 $375,000
Writing Associates $25,000 $625,000
Enhanced Opportunities for Undergraduate English Majors
Goals: Increasing the vitality of the English major through smaller classes with distinguished faculty, involvement in research, and special opportunities for and recognition of outstanding students.
Importance and Impact: English majors go into a wide range of professions, including business, law, teaching, and public service. They succeed based on the skills learned in studying literature: critical thinking, writing, collaborative problem solving, and research. The addition of more opportunities to work in learning communities and to apply their knowledge will benefit students in all these career paths.
Feasibility: There is no obstacle to the immediate implementation of these proposals should they be funded. The English Department is prepared to commit resources to any of these projects, and most of them have been successfully piloted on a smaller scale.
Proposals:
- Capstone Seminars: Small classes for seniors, on special topics taught by faculty actively pursuing research on the topic, would permit majors to demonstrate higher reasoning skills, write longer papers, and engage with faculty on research.
- Undergraduate Scholarships: Scholarships for English majors would provide outstanding students who would otherwise be unable to stay in college the means to attain the BA, especially students most likely to pursue a professional post-graduate degree.
- English as Preparation for Business: Along with a special seminar and a business writing class, students will interact with visiting English alumni successful in business, to learn about the ways skills learned in the major have direct application in the professions.
- English Honors: Enhancement of the English Honors Program would include seminars, colloquia, a faculty-mentor process, and thesis writing workshops.
- Research Associates: English majors, especially those preparing for graduate study, would apply to become research assistants for faculty, enabling them to experience the challenges of research in the humanities and collaborate with faculty.
- Essay Prizes: Rewarding and acknowledging the best writers among English majors would provide them with a sense of achievement and an added professional credential; prize essays to be published annually in a booklet distributed to all majors, as models for writing in English classes.
Annual Budget needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Capstone seminars (6) $50,000 $1.3 million
Undergraduate Scholarships $15,000 $375,000
English for Business $15,000 $375,000
English Honors $20,000 $500,000
Research Associates $20,000 $500,000
Essay Prizes $15,000 $375,000
Enhanced Opportunities for English Graduate Students
Goals: Endowment funds would enable the Department to recruit graduate students commensurate with the quality of its post-graduate degree programs.
Impact and Importance: The quality of applicants for the MA and Ph.D. programs in English is very high, but lack of first-year support and non-teaching fellowships means we often lose the very best applicants to other universities. The Oregon English Department has an increasingly prominent role in preparing graduate students for teaching careers in higher education and related professions. Improved recruitment will go hand-in-hand with increased national prominence.
Feasibility: There are no obstacles to the immediate implementation of these fellowships. Commensurate with the increased national distinction of the English Department, the application pool is outstanding. These proposals would complement the teacher-training and teaching appointments currently available to graduate students as recruitment incentives.
Proposals:
- Dissertation Fellowships would provide a term of support for students completing dissertations. The opportunity to concentrate on research and writing free of teaching will increase the quality of dissertations and decrease time to degree, leading to advantages for Ph.D. students in competing for jobs and to more effective recruitment of graduate students.
- Targeted and Minority Recruitment Fellowships: Areas of study in which first-year support would enable recruitment of the best graduate students include Medieval English literature, American literature, Rhetoric and Composition, Film Studies, and Nineteenth-Century British literature. First year funding for students of color would give the English Department a tremendous boost in recruiting highly sought-after applicants, in connection with the Department's vigorous efforts to achieve distinctiveness in the fields of ethnic American literature.
- See also our proposals for graduate student support under Ethnic American Literature, Literature and the Environment, and Film Studies.
Annual Budget Needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Dissertation Fellowships $70,000 $1.75 million
Recruitment Fellowships $55,000 $1.4 million
Northwest Review
Goal: The continued excellence and enhancement of the University of Oregon's preeminent literary journal, expansion of its role in the advancement of the literary arts on campus, nationally, and internationally; bringing it into the top tier of University- sponsored literary reviews.
Importance and Impact: Northwest Review is the University of Oregon's literary journal, publishing the best new and established writers worldwide. As the University's well-respected contribution to the literary arts of the Pacific Northwest region and throughout the world, its impact on contemporary literature has been and will continue to be substantial: many of the region's most notable literary figures were introduced to readers in the pages of Northwest Review. It has established itself as one of the leading publications to feature English translation as an art form, introducing new translators as well as international writers in their own languages. The mission of Northwest Review reflects that of the University of Oregon: to enhance and enrich the undergraduate and graduate educational experience at the University; to serve as educational and cultural outreach into the community, the state, the nation, and the world.
Feasibility: Northwest Review has a forty-year record of continual publication, awards, citations, and commendations from writers. Northwest Review has strong connections to the academic programs of English and Creative Writing by teaching literary editing and sponsoring internships and by advising the student staff of the on-campus undergraduate literary magazine. With subscribers in fifty states and thirty?seven foreign countries, Northwest Review has garnered major awards from the National Endowment, the Oregon Governor's Award for the Arts, and the Eugene Arts and Letters Award.
Proposals:
- A Sustainable Publication: With an adequate endowment, Northwest Review can continue publication without being susceptible to departmental and University budget cuts. Following recent budget cuts, publication has been supported with temporary funds from the President and the English Department. As production and distribution costs increase, the Review faces further cuts and decreases in quality, despite steady and growing subscriptions and continuous national recognition. Northwest Review plans to increase revenues through advertising. Endowment funds should be supplemented by English, as presently, by administration, and by a coalition of other departments and colleges which benefit from its programs.
- Enhanced Connections to Academics: Northwest Review will continue and enlarge its Literary Editing internship program, providing a participatory learning experience for students whose career plans include the literary arts industry or teaching. With endowment support and matching funds from other campus units, Northwest Review could regularly publish work emerging from campus sponsored literary events (symposia, readings, multi-media arts events). The Review could plan special issues related to topics being developed on campus (e.g. emerging ethnic writers, translation, environmental writing), and in collaboration with University of Oregon Press add to its series of Northwest Review Books on such themes. The complete archive of issues of Northwest Review should be made available for research and teaching.
- Enhanced Connections to the Pacific Northwest: As the literary voice of the region, Northwest Review is well-situated to increase its circulation by including regularly writing by and articles about regional writers. This would entail an expanded association with literary cultures and writing programs on other college and university campuses as well as public organizations, for purposes of community outreach.
- Increased Overall Excellence: Northwest Review is on the threshold of ranking among the most prestigious literary reviews sponsored by universities. To enable Northwest Review to reach this level of esteem, together with the increased revenue possibilities it would bring would, it should be featured more prominently as among the University's contributions to cultural life, including increased advertising in University publications and subscription campaigns; and it should pay contributors at professional rates, offer annual literary awards for the best works appearing in its pages, and expand its advisory board to include more prominent writers and University faculty.
- Literary Translation Symposium: In collaboration with other departments planning scholarly events dealing with translation, Northwest Review would publish translations and a collection of symposium papers in a special edition or book. It would sponsor the visit and readings of translators who have published in the Review.
Annual Budget Needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Sustaining Costs $30,000 $750,000
(not including English Dept. salaries)
Enhancements/Excellence $35,000 $875,000
Translation Symposium $25,000
Center for Literature and the Environment
Goals: Establishing a world-class Center for Literature and the Environment that would build on the English Department's current preeminent international reputation in this increasingly prominent field of study, enhancing research, interdisciplinary connections, student recruitment, and community outreach.
Importance and Impact: New developments stress the study of literature as an expression of environmental thinking and exploration of the interaction of the human and non-human worlds. Because of the preeminence of its faculty in this field, the Oregon English Department has emerged as the foremost graduate program in this field. A Center would secure this prominent position and have a major impact on the development of this field and the way it contributes to an understanding of human perspectives on environmental issues and the quality of public policy discussions.
Feasibility: The English Department has developed courses, attracted outstanding students from national and international undergraduate programs, sponsored international colloquia, and collaborated with Environmental Studies in the implementation of degree programs. Its faculty in this field are internationally prominent and active in research, publishing, and consulting.
Proposals:
- Center Staff: The Center would have a Director and Assistant Director who would organize all of its activities, coordinate them with related on-campus activities, establish outreach programs to the community and public, and secure grants for research.
- Visiting Professors: Prominent research scholars and public advocates would spend time in residence to teach and offer public lectures.
- Graduate Fellowships: Increased support for graduate students in the field would enable the English Department to recruit the best students in this field.
- Conferences, Public Events, and Publications: The Center would make research in the field available to the profession and public by a series of conferences, lectures, workshops, and publications in a field attracting increasing interest.
Annual Budget Needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Staff $40,000 $1 million
Visiting Professors $35,000 $875,000
Graduate Fellowships $30,000 $750,000
Events $25,000 $625,000
Shakespeare Institute
Goals: A Shakespeare Institute would enhance undergraduate and graduate education by integrating the study of Shakespeare with performance and connecting students with the professional world of theater and film; it would provide outreach to the community through consulting.
Impact and Importance: Bringing actors, directors, and other professionals into classrooms will enhance the study of Shakespeare and his world. Providing students with an opportunity to visit major sites of professional performance will broaden their understanding of the literature and the world. An Institute would enable scholars to affect the quality of performances available to the public.
Feasibility: Faculty members in the English Department have international reputations as outstanding scholars of Shakespeare and of Renaissance dramatic and non-dramatic literature. Shakespeare is one of the most popular general education subjects in the humanities, taken by over 1500 students annually and taught by prize-winning faculty. The English Department's innovative Shakespeare on Page and Stage course successfully integrates the study of the playwright with the study of performance, including interaction with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland. The Theater Arts Department and local professional companies have consulted English faculty about performances.
Proposals:
- Lectures and Performances: The Institute would sponsor a series of lectures by UO faculty and visiting scholars aimed at undergraduates as well as scholars and the public. These would be coordinated with campus and local performances of plays, music, or films. In addition, the Institute would sponsor campus visits by professionals from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and touring companies, such as the Royal Shakespeare Company, to work with students.
- Dramaturgy: The Institute would sponsor research and courses on the historical and contemporary performance of works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, and the faculty would provide consulting assistance to groups which perform Renaissance drama or music to provide necessary critical and historical perspectives.
- Student Travel: The Institute would sponsor programs in which UO students in Shakespeare courses would visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival to attend performances and special events involving Festival performers. It would also sponsor a program in which students spend a summer term in London and Avon, England, to attend Shakespeare and related performances.
Annual Budget Needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Lectures and Performances $45,000 $1.2 million
Dramaturgy $25,000 $625,000
Student Travel $50,000 $1.25 million
Ethnic American Literary Studies
Goal: Expanding on the English Department's prominence in the field of ethnic American literature and its strong interdisciplinary ties to achieve national distinction in this area.
Importance and Impact: The study of English literature has expanded rapidly to include aspects of literary expression and criticism dealing with the experience of ethnic minorities and issues of racial identity. This expansion acknowledges the significance of ethnic literary traditions in America and in English-speaking parts of the world and makes available for study important work by neglected authors. Students' knowledge of these authors deepens their understanding of literature as a means of understanding culture in all its diversity and complexity.
Feasibility: The English Department has a solid record of outstanding teaching and research in the area of ethnic literature, anchored by recent additions of minority scholars to the faculty. The faculty includes productive research scholars the fields of Native American literature, African American literature, Asian American literature, and Jewish American literature who have developed innovative undergraduate courses and graduate seminars. The department spent the year 2001-2002 developing a comprehensive plan for achieving national distinction in this area, endorsed by CAS, part of which included a curriculum revision now completed and other parts of which await implementation pending funding opportunities. These proposals would be carried out in connection with initiatives in other departments with which English already has strong collaborative connections.
Proposals:
- Named Professorships: Ethnic American literature is the most competitive hiring field in English studies at the moment, and enhanced positions would further our efforts to recruit outstanding faculty. Three named positions for the very best candidates for assistant professorships would give the department a significant competitive edge for hiring and further its reputation as a department in which excellent work in this field is carried out.
- Post-Doctoral Fellowships: A program that would attract new Ph.D.s in the field to campus to participate in its activities in this field would further enable the department to recruit and retain excellent faculty.
- Graduate Fellowships: The current excellent faculty and additional scholars we would be able to bring in will increase our reputation as a place to study in this field. Along with an enhanced reputation, we need to provide enhanced access for graduate students, especially minority students, and be able to make competitive offers of support to those students. Fellowships need to be developed for each field of ethnic literature.
- Summer Bridge Programs for New Freshmen: The department would expand on the success of its Native American Summer Bridge to create additional opportunities for students to spend the summer before their first year on campus taking courses in ethnic literature and becoming familiar with issues of ethnic diversity on campus and in society. Such programs are an essential way to recruit ethnic students and those interested in the study of ethnicity, and to help ensure their success in college and retention at the University. Programs similar to the Native American Summer Bridge in Asian American Literature, African American Literature, and Chicano/Chicana literature would bring 45 new students to campus each summer, at no expense to them, chosen competitively, to be taught together in learning communities.
Annual Budget needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Endowed Professorships $100,000 $2.5 million
Post-Doctoral Fellowships $50,000 $1.25 million
Graduate Fellowships $60,000 $1.5 million
Summer Bridge programs $90,000 $2.25 million
Film and Media Studies
Goal: Expanding research and teaching in film and media studies and preparing UO students to work creatively in Oregon's film and media industries.
Importance and Impact: The study and teaching of visual literacy is increasingly vital to enable citizens to both appreciate the aesthetic contributions and think critically about the powerful influences of film and media. An expanded interdisciplinary film studies program would be the only university program in Oregon to prepare students to enter a multi-million dollar industry in Oregon. A truly distinctive program in film would attract students who must now look outside the state for this education.
Feasibility: The English Department has played a leadership role in the development of film studies at the University of Oregon, by teaching History of the Motion Picture, Media Aesthetics, Dramatic Screenwriting, and a wide range of courses on film. It designed a successful Film Studies Certificate for undergraduates, and offers a Masters degree in Film and Media Studies and a Ph.D. emphasis in the field. The department pioneered the Professionals-in-Residence idea by having Larry Ferguson, a Hollywood screenwriter, visit annually to teach advanced screenwriting.
Proposals:
- Named Professor of Film Studies: The English Department is within reach of national distinction with its current faculty. A position for a senior scholar would anchor the Department's film and media emphases, expanding research, attract graduate students, and enable the department to sponsor events coordinated with the film industry.
- Professionals-in-Residence: This program would bring visiting writers, actors, directors, and others in the film industry to campus to work directly with students to gain insight into the career aspects of their studies, to help arrange internships for students in professional settings, and to make other professional connections.
- Coordinator of Film Studies: As programs and courses increase in number, it will be necessary to establish a faculty-administrative position to direct and oversee these programs, to work on grants for research, and to serve as a liaison to Oregon's professional film community.
- Interdisciplinary MFA in Film: A new degree program would involve students collaboratively for two years in five related aspects of film: film history and criticism, screenwriting, directing, film acting, technical production.
Annual Budget Needs: Perpetual Endowment:
Endowed Professorship $75,000 $1.875 million
Professionals-in-Residence $25,000 $625,000
Film Studies Coordinator $35,000 $875,000
MFA in Film (Inclusive of above) $50,000 $1.25 million
The Ethical Public Debate Initiative
Goals: This initiative will draw together international scholarship dealing with the role of reason and ethics in civic discourse to bring about educational reforms in ethical argument across all disciplines.
Impact and Importance: The conduct of debate in contemporary society is often characterized as unethical insofar as it is based on emotional or bandwagon appeals, or otherwise designed to silence opposition for the sake of victory. Students need a clear alternative to this combat mode of persuasion in order to participate constructively in public discourse in an open, diverse, tolerant society. Scholars studying such alternatives come from many disciplines: rhetoric, philosophy, education, jurisprudence. This project would bring such scholars together to focus on the possibility of finding common ground about ethical principles for public debate, and then applying those principles to the teaching of writing and speaking in all areas of the curriculum. The idea of linking a scholarly volume with a textbook is unique and potentially revolutionary in creating closer connections between research and teaching.
Feasibility: Scholars of rhetoric in English and the Clark Honors college and of ethics in Philosophy and Religious Studies are prepared to organize these activities, and write and edit the associated publications. They are in contact with scholars throughout the world who would participate.
Proposals:
- Courses: High-achieving undergraduate students from a wide range of majors, including professional programs, would study scholarship related to the practice of rational and ethical argumentation in a seminar format, followed by a series of colloquia in which the students would work with visiting scholars, some of whose writings they have studied in the seminars.
- Colloquia: An invited group of world-class scholars would come to the UO campus to exchange ideas and to engage with the students from the courses. They would plan to produce a scholarly volume and, along with the students, a textbook about the practice of ethical debate across the curriculum. Following the production of these books, a second conference would be open to any interested scholars or teachers and focus on the material in these publications. Workshops on teaching the textbook would be included.
- Publishing: A scholarly volume based on the first colloquium would be edited by faculty at the UO. A textbook, aimed at undergraduate students in all subjects, would be co-authored by faculty here and others invited to contribute, and would be designed to enable teachers of any subject to include principles of reasoned and ethical debate in the assignments they give students. These books would be published through a joint agreement by a major scholarly press and a textbook publisher with strong international and interdisciplinary distribution. They would be advertised and marketed together so teachers could understand the theoretical issues while also applying them in teaching their courses.
- Center for Reason and Ethical Rhetoric: Following this three-year effort, an endowment would establish a Center to promote further activities related to the teaching of principles of ethical argument across the disciplines. It would include a faculty director and operating budget for further scholarly colloquia and projects applying research to teaching.
Budget needs (3 years): Perpetual Endowment: Faculty release time to organize and coordinate $32,000 Course preparation and release time $25,000 Colloquia $150,000 Publishing subventions and preparation $80,000 (potentially offset by royalties) Center for Reason and Ethical Rhetoric $1.5 million