Through lectures, symposia, seminars, readings, discussions, excursions, and scholarly writing, the Proseminar aims to nurture an intellectual community seeking to bridge scholarship and citizenship through critical engagement with problems that impede the development of a just and sustainable global civil society.
The Proseminar seeks to promote forms of scholarship that stitch together different disciplinary fabrics in academic practice, as well as new forms of student and faculty engagement with issues that define our times. This Signature Program is for Upper College students whose concentrations entail significant work in the social sciences or cognate fields of inquiry, and is open to any junior with relevant expertise and interests, although students must apply and students who are able to demonstrate strong interests in the subject area and the ability to do such rigorous scholarship are given priority.
Through intellectual exchanges with social scientists and interdisciplinary scholars in a variety of settings, Proseminar students become acquainted with professional standards for scholarly work as practiced by their own teachers and by an array of guest lecturers and workshop leaders. Participants will be expected to think and write collaboratively, expansively, and rigorously, honing their methodological and research skills, en route to preparing papers for professional conferences, planning for senior theses, and contemplating post baccalaureate life.