Are you .....

Interested in incorporating performance and arts-based experiential learning into your courses? You do NOT have to be trained in the performing arts to pursue this interest!

Amazed by the richness of the performing arts on our campus, yet frustrated that so many of our students seem to be either disinterested or unaware of the opportunities to attend so many exceptional performances?

Interested in helping our undergraduate students become more critical, creative thinkers and more skillful, effective collaborators?  

Save the Date for UMS Mellon Institute on Arts-Academic Integration for LSA Faculty
May 4-5, 2016

The UMS Mellon Institute on Arts-Academic Integration, organized by UMS (University Musical Society) and the Office of the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education, College of LSA, and made possible through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, will explore ways for you to meaningfully incorporate performance and arts-based learning into your teaching.

We seek faculty members, including lecturers, across ranks from all LSA departments, particularly those of you who do not have special expertise in the performing arts but would like to incorporate arts-based experiences into your undergraduate courses. Special consideration will be given to applicants from the sciences and social sciences.

Applications are due by Friday, February 12. The application is available to download. Please submit them via email to Shannon Fitzsimons, skfitz@umich.edu.

The two-day seminar will include all of the following:

*Opportunities to learn about the experiences of UM faculty and staff and Visiting Scholars across many academic disciplines who have integrated arts experiences in music, theatre, and dance into their undergraduate teaching.

*Michael Rohd, Director of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice at Northwestern University, delivering a keynote address about his work using theatre and the arts more broadly to engage community partners from outside the arts sector in critical dialogue on topics of mutual concern.
 
*A hands-on workshop with Michael Rohd on these dialogue techniques, which you can use in teaching, both in relationship with and independently from a traditional "arts event" and across disciplines.

*Working sessions with faculty peers on creative course design and teaching, with experienced UM and visiting faculty as your instructors

*Time to work on your own courses or develop new ones that engage the performing arts.

*Chances to participate in, learn about, and discuss classroom activities and resources that will cultivate students' capacities for creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.

A $2000 stipend (payable as summer salary) will be offered to all faculty members who participate fully in the institute and its follow-up sessions, with the stipulation that participants will be expected to incorporate performing arts experiences and themes into their teaching in the academic year 2017-2018 by either creating a new course or partially revising an existing course. Up to an additional $500 in course development funds will be available to faculty fellows to subsidize student tickets to performances, provide honoraria to visiting and/or teaching artists, buy books and/or materials, etc.

Over the course of the 2016-2017 academic year, the faculty cohort will meet with UMS staff, University experts, and other guests to continue to refine their arts-integrative syllabi and to gain insight into the season-planning process and learn about upcoming performances. Institute members will attend 3-4 mandatory group meetings during the 2016-2017 academic year; these will be supplemented by optional workshops in specific arts disciplines.

Save the date: Wednesday and Thursday, May 4-5, 2016. Lunch will be provided both days; there will also be a cocktail reception on May 4th.

Questions? Please email Shannon Fitzsimons, UMS Campus Engagement Specialist, at skfitz@umich.edu or Marjorie Horton, Assistant Dean, LSA Undergraduate Education, at hortonm@umich.edu.