Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) 2023 Summer Program

Overview

The Minnesota Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) seeks applications for participants in its 2nd annual Summer Program. Participants will take part in a week-long collaborative workshop, in which they learn about figures in an expanded canon of early modern philosophy (such as Anton Wilhelm Amo, Margaret Cavendish, and Anne Conway) and cutting-edge research on them; discuss inclusive, student-centered, and equitable pedagogy (with 2 sessions dedicated to teaching a predominantly white subject in predominantly white institutions); and collaboratively craft their own early modern course syllabus. After the workshop, participants and guides will meet regularly and continue to communicate as their courses (and future versions of it) are implemented. Participants will also receive an award from CCEC attesting to their experience with canon expansion and inclusive teaching.

The workshop guides are the co- founders of the Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) as well as outside experts.

Co-Founders:

Jessica Gordon-Roth, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Setterberg Fellow, UMN

Dwight Lewis, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, UMN

Bennett McNulty, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, UMN 

Guest Early Modern expert:

Julie Walsh, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wellesley College

Guest Pedagogy experts: TBA

Summer RA: Kylie Shahar

The workshop is set to take place on the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities campus, as well as surrounding areas of Minneapolis June 5-9, 2023.

Applications

Interested applicants should submit a statement of interest (1 page outlining their interest in the program and how it connects with their research and/or teaching) and a curriculum vitae. We welcome applications from advanced graduate students and faculty members (contingent or permanent). We especially encourage applications from individuals of groups underrepresented in (Anglo-American) philosophy. Faculty members with institutional funding to participate should communicate this in application. Those eligible for an ODEI-sponsored BIPOC participant scholarship should also communicate this in their application.

Applications should be submitted to Kylie Shahar ([email protected]) by March 1, 2023.  Applicants will be notified of admissions decisions by April 1, 2023.

About

The Minnesota Center for Canon Expansion and Change (CCEC) was founded in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2021 with the goal of effecting meaningful change in the way that philosophy is done, understood, organized, and – especially – taught. In particular, CCEC focuses on supporting instructors who want to teach neglected figures or a new canon of early modern philosophy, but otherwise lack the resources to do so. CCEC aims to teach instructors how to create a safe and vibrant learning environment that speaks to a multitude of perspectives and allows students to learn about philosophers with voices like their own. The idea behind this is that we tend to teach as we have been taught, and this is the way (at least in part) the canon is maintained or upheld. This also means that this is where we can best effect change: if instructors are taught to think of the canon in a more broad and inclusive way, their students will too. Moreover, it’s only through changing the canon and understanding the way in which our respective positionalities affect learning in the classroom that we can be in a better position to change the face of philosophy. 

Sponsored by University of Minnesota Department of Philosophy (Setterberg and Chair funds), an Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) & Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) Pilot Grant, and an Interdisciplinary Collaborative Workshop (ICW) Grant, with additional funding pending.

To check out last year’s inaugural Summer Program, check out Twitter: @MNCCEC