The Trinity Institute for
Interdisciplinary Studies (TIIS) provides support for faculty as intellectuals:
to exchange ideas, discuss books, critique each other’s works-in-progress, and
invite scholars to campus to engage in ongoing discussions. TIIS was
founded on the beliefs that many problems profit from being conceptualized in
multiple ways, and that interdisciplinary dialogue will invigorate our sense of
the many available dimensions of a given intellectual project.
The Institute’s interdisciplinary
vocation is two-fold. First, TIIS will enable scholars within a given disciplinary
field to converse with scholars working in other epistemological and
methodological frameworks. Second, TIIS will promote a deliberate, robust, and
conscious outreach to all faculty members at Trinity, of all ranks and statuses.
TIIS facilitates the many interdisciplinary conversations already in progress on
campus and off, and aims to initiate new ones.
TIIS offers
numerous and varied programming throughout the year, from large public events
to intimate discussions by invitation:
1.
Trinity Workshops
TIIS sponsors at least four workshops over the course of the academic year. These
workshops spark discussion and create connections over topics of
interdisciplinary interest – both among Trinity faculty and with faculty from
nearby colleges. These workshops are pitched as introductions to a topic, and
are relatively informal in structure. Participants may begin each with a 5-10
minute presentation before inviting questions from the audience, or panels may
take a round-table discussion format. The workshop organizer consults
with the other participants to select a brief reading that attendees should
review in preparation for the workshop. The goal of these workshops is to
identify local communities of scholars working on common projects across
disciplinary borders, here on campus and at colleges and universities within a
driving radius. These workshops generally take place during the College Common
Hour (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12:15 -1:05 pm), and students, faculty, and staff
are all welcome to attend.
2.
Faculty Reading Groups
TIIS sponsors faculty reading groups
that can meet over the course of either semester, the whole academic year, or
even during the summer months. The goal of the reading groups is to enable
small but sustained communities of scholars from Trinity to work together on
particular problems or themes, with outcomes that might range from new or
revised courses to published work inflected by the reading and discussions that
have taken place.
3.
Manuscript Fellowship Program
TIIS sponsors a program for Trinity faculty members who are in the final stages
of preparing a manuscript for submission to a press, or for publication. The
faculty member who wishes to have such a manuscript read by a group of faculty
would work with TIIS’s co-directors to select a small group of faculty from
Trinity and one off-campus reader, all of whom would read the manuscript and meet
for a daylong workshop to discuss it. Lunch and snacks are provided, and the participants
receive a stipend.
4.
Junior Faculty Research Fellowship
On the model of the CTL first-year pedagogy workshop, TIIS will pilot a
fellowship aimed at providing junior faculty with a supportive
interdisciplinary environment for pursuing their research during the academic
year, when the demands of teaching and service are liable to push research to
the background. Small groups of 3-5 junior faculty in their second to sixth
year representing at least two departments may apply for one semester of
support per academic year.