The Altman Fellows Program is the signature program of the Miami University Humanities Center. Its goal is to foster collaboration, pedagogical innovation, and new research across the humanities and beyond.
Each year, the Humanities Center Steering Committee selects two Altman Fellows to plan a year of inquiry into a topic of their own design or, on occasion, into a special topic of particular urgency. Altman Fellows help to recruit a cross-disciplinary team of faculty and student fellows to join the program, and they work with the director and steering committee to plan and coordinate a year-long interdisciplinary exploration of the topic.
The Altman Program includes a bi-weekly faculty seminar; an advanced undergraduate course on the annual theme, team-taught by faculty fellows during the fall; a student fellows program to enhance graduate study, undergraduate research, and public humanities work; and a substantial program of public events. Public events are supported with Humanities Center funding and typically include a dozen distinguished lectures, readings and artist talks, works-in-progress presentations, and a spring symposium.
Please note: This page provides general program information designed to help faculty propose Altman Programs. Once a program theme has been selected and advertised, interested faculty members should consult the specific "call for applications" for that program or contact the director of the humanities center for information.
How to Plan and Propose an Altman Fellows Program
Each fall, the Humanities Center's steering committee invites pairs of faculty to propose yearlong programs of interdisciplinary collaborative inquiry into topics of critical importance in the humanities. On occasion, the steering committee specifies a topic in advance. Potential Altman Fellows are invited to apply jointly or to contact the director of the center for advice on potential collaborators. Finalist teams are sometimes invited to meet with the center's steering committee to discuss the possible program details prior to selection. In November, the steering committee selects two Altman Fellows, and program planning begins shortly thereafter. Working with the steering committee and director, the Altman Fellows help to recruit a team of six or more Altman Faculty Scholars, one or two Altman Graduate Fellows, and six or more Geoffrion Undergraduate Fellows to join the program. The Altman Fellows work with the director to plan all elements of the program: a substantial series of public events, including lectures, a spring symposium, and co-curricular programming; a bi-weekly faculty seminar; and a new, team-taught undergraduate course on the program theme. During the fellowship year, fellows work with the staff of the Humanities Center to host events, foster university-wide engagement in the program theme, present their own research to the community, and ensure the success of the program .
Altman Fellowship Applications
The center invites applications from pairs of tenure-line faculty representing different humanities disciplines. Applications should outline the scope, significance, and salience of the topic, the major questions to be addressed, and how the program might address the needs of the humanities, the community, or the university. Applications should sketch the following: key intellectual issues of the proposed topic; their contemporary public relevance and their appeal across diverse disciplines or publics; possible features or initiatives of the proposed program, including possible visiting speakers and/or other special opportunities, events, or structures; the applicants’ qualifications, including past, ongoing or proposed research; the broad outlines of a proposed, team-taught course for advanced undergraduates; a list of Miami faculty, in and beyond the humanities, whose work might intersect with the topic and who might be valuable contributors to the program. It is not necessary to contact or recruit facult in advance, only to suggest that the topic could attract a critical mass of participants. Applicants are encouraged to review previous programs, but the Altman Program is intended to encourage creativity and new programs need not replicate previous ones in structure. Junior faculty applicants should seek approval of their chairs and briefly address potential concerns that the program could slow their progress toward tenure. Interested faculty are strongly encouraged to meet with the director of the Humanities Center to discuss their ideas for the program or to gain advice on potential collaborators. Applications should be submitted as a single PDF document titled “[Applicants' Last Names] Altman Application.pdf” to humanitiesgrants@miamioh.edu by the deadline specified on the Faculty Opportunities page.
Each Altman Fellow receives a two-course teaching reduction during the program year and a professional development fund of $2,000.
Duties of the Altman Fellows
Altman Scholars Applications.
Once an Altman Program topic has been selected, the center invites applications from faculty members who wish to join the Altman Program as Faculty Scholars. Altman Scholars join the biweekly Altman Seminar. They are expected to attend all Altman events, collaborate with each other, present some of their own research or creative work on campus during the year of the program, link their courses to the program, and help plan program events shortly after acceptance into the program. Applicants should be aware that most program lectures occur weekdays at 5 p.m. and that the Faculty Seminar meets Fridays around lunchtime. Scholars must be available at these times and must request teaching and service assignments that allow them to participate in all program events. The program is open to tenure-line and TCPL faculty.
Each Altman Scholar receives a $2,000 professional expenses account. To apply, please provide the Humanities Center Steering Committee with an abbreviated c.v. and a 1-2 page statement indicating how your research and teaching might contribute to, and benefit from, the program. Applicants must include their spring teaching schedule and the names of two or more outstanding undergraduate or graduate students who could benefit from participation as student fellows. These students will be invited to apply by the Humanities Center. Please submit your application in a single PDF document titled “[YourLastName] Altman Scholar Application.pdf” to humanitiesgrants@miamioh.edu by the deadline on the Faculty Opportunities page.
