The University of Iowa has been invited by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to submit one proposal for the prestigious John E. Sawyer Seminars program.

The Mellon Foundation's Sawyer Seminars program was established in 1994 to provide support for collaborative research on historical and contemporary topics of major scholarly significance. The seminars, named in honor of the Foundation's long-serving third president, John E. Sawyer, bring together faculty, foreign visitors, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from a variety of fields mainly, but not exclusively, in the arts, humanities and interpretive social sciences, for intensive study of subjects chosen by the participants. This program aims to engage productive scholars in multi-disciplinary and comparative inquiry that would (in ordinary university circumstances) be difficult to pursue, while at the same time avoiding the institutionalization of such work in new centers, departments, or programs.  Maximum funding from the Foundation is $225,000 USD.

The Office of the Vice President for Research and Economic Development (OVPRED), in partnership with the Obermann Center for Advanced Studies, and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, has established a process for identifying the proposal that will go forward from the University of Iowa. Two information sessions are scheduled in mid-January in preparation for the following internal deadlines: Monday, February 19 (letter of intent) and Monday, March 5 (final proposal). An internal peer review panel will select the single proposal to move forward from the University of Iowa to the Mellon Foundation by the March 30 deadline.   

Please visit the OVPRED website for the Sawyer Seminars for more details and to apply.