Planning Grant for International Consortium of Critical Theory Programs

Program Development: Because the planned consortium anticipates curriculum and similar resource sharing, we intend to use the planning period to explore ways to share models, materials, resources, and initiatives; to consider possible structures for student and faculty exchanges; and to consider different forms of start-up stimulus best suited to their specific conditions. We will focus our attention on how this information might be most useful for scholars interested in starting programs because it is an area of study, particularly graduate study, in broad demand across a wide number of departments and programs at many U.S. and overseas universities. Critical theory concentrations often emerge at universities through non-conventional structures which are unlike departments and programs. (Five examples are: institute-only or summer-school only academic programming; graduate programs lacking undergraduate majors or minors; graduate programs based in the provision of graduate certificate qualifications only; the innovative Mellon graduate “cluster” model developed to complement departments and programs at Northwestern University; and forms of undergraduate led critical theory programming outside the classroom.) Their innovative structure may be among the most valuable aspects of critical theory programming, and essential to some of the benefits. However, the non-conventional structure can also pose challenges to faculty hoping to use conventional university resources and structures to initiate such programs. The aim of this portion of the grant is to gather and share information about models which have quickly lead to viable concentrations, clusters, and summer schools, while at the same time taking into consideration different institutional conditions. We hope to develop strong justifications for administrative support for critical theory, explaining its history, its purpose, and its value to an increasingly global university.