Project Guidelines

The Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference welcomes project proposals consistent with the Center’s mission. Proposals may be submitted for consideration by any Columbia or Barnard faculty member whose project aligns with the aims of the CCASD mission statement (www.socialdifference.org), although preference will be given to faculty affiliated with one or more of CCASD’s member centers and institutes. CCASD seeks projects that are interdisciplinary in nature and favors proposals from an already-constituted core working group (typically 5-8 people). It strongly encourages the submission of proposals from working groups that include younger scholars and/or graduate students. In keeping with CCASD’s commitment to promoting innovative scholarship on the role of gender, sexuality, ethnicity and race in global dynamics of power and inequality, special consideration will be given to projects that link creatively to one or more of Columbia’s Global Centers (http://globalcenters.columbia.edu/).

Center projects typically run for three years, but projects with a shorter life span will be considered. In 3-year projects, year 1 concentrates on focused project development, including the constitution of a regional and/or international working group, exploratory seminars, and guest lectures or workshops. Year 2 involves the most intensive intellectual work, featuring regular meetings of the working group, the active participation of international or regional fellows and affiliates, and, as occasion warrants, a high-profile event to mark the project’s public launch. Year 3 is dedicated to post-project planning and dissemination of the project’s work through a major conference, the publication of conference proceedings and/or edited collections of working group scholarship, or online publication of syllabi or other curricular materials.

CCASD project support budgets may be used by Project Directors at their discretion.  However, budgets typically include the following:  Course relief for a Project Director (one course per year for two years); stipends for two graduate student participants and one graduate assistant responsible for program support; working group meeting lunches and/or breakfasts; limited support for visiting scholars, public conferences and publications. Project Directors should be prepared to work with the Center to seek additional funding sources.

Project proposals should not exceed five double-spaced pages and should include a project description, a provisional budget, a short CV for each tentative working group member, and a detailed work plan for group meetings, public events, and the dissemination of project research. Proposals should also describe a plan for soliciting and adjudicating applications for working group membership from the wider University community. Any anticipated curricular or pedagogical outcomes of the proposed project should be noted.

Proposals should be directed to Laura E. Ciolkowski, CCASD Associate Director (lec30@columbia.edu), by or before October 1, 2010.  Projects will be selected by the Steering Committee of the CCASD and applicants will be notified by December 2010.