The Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities is proud to announce its open application and this year’s theme.
The Office of Undergraduate Research, with the Simpson Center for the Humanities, is elated to introduce this year’s Summer Institute in the Arts & Humanities (SIAH) theme, teaching team, and application! SIAH offers an opportunity for undergraduates to engage in scholarly research with accomplished scholars and peers while earning full-time academic credit. This scholarly experience occurs in the context of seminars and tutorial-style lessons with faculty who offer expertise from disciplinary and interdisciplinary points of view in a space that encourages mutual learning with peers as well as independent thought.
Student participants develop individual, original research ideas related to an interdisciplinary theme, create a scholarly research paper or project, work through a faculty and peer critique process and formally present their work at a closing symposium.
Theme
Earthworlds: Life in a Turbulent Planet
We don’t live on Earth. We live in it, caught in the whirl of energy, story, matter, and meaning through which a planet becomes a home. But whose home? And how? In this course, we will investigate the interconnectedness of Earthly beings, elements, and narratives through which humans and other organisms fashion their worlds. Offering an introduction to the interdisciplinary field known as environmental humanities, the course will invite students to think about how different organisms, peoples, bodies, and stories make (and remake) worlds within the Earth. We will ask how planetary forces shape life here in Cascadia, on the edge of the Pacific, and how our locality is entangled with other sites and histories. We will trace the movement of species and peoples; examine Earthforms like rivers and mountains alongside nominally-human infrastructures like cities, plantations, and roads. Together, we will trouble the difference between human and natural history and contemplate elements like stone, water, air, water and fire. We will ask how differential identities of race, sexuality, religion, culture, and species are intertwined with infrastructures of power, energy, politics, religion, and law.
The course will be modeled on collaborative projects like The Feral Atlas and Cascadia Field Guide which invite readers to explore the entanglements between art and science, humans and other species. These projects provide models both for our own inquiry, and the collaborative sprit in which it will be undertaken. Course materials will range widely, including poems, essays, novels, films, and other media. We will also get outside the classroom through field trips and excursions. Assignments will provide opportunities to explore writing in different styles. Students will conduct research projects of their own design, and have the option of pursuing creative alternatives to more traditional academic essays (maps, stories, films, video games, art installations, apps, songs) and/or of pursuing collaborative projects if they so choose.
Applying
The application opens 6 January 2025 and closes 3 March 2025 at 11:59pm. This opportunity is available to UW Students only. You can learn more about eligibility, financial information, and commitment here. The application consists of two parts, demographic/personal information and three essay responses.
The Office of Undergraduate Research will host two information sessions for students who are interested in learning more about the program and application process:
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Diversity Statement
We believe that diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences enhance scholarly inquiry. We strongly encourage applicants from diverse student populations, including but not limited to community college transfer students; first generation college students; international students; undocumented students; trans*, non-binary, gender non-conforming students, and students of different sexual orientations; students with disabilities; students from low-income backgrounds, and groups who are underrepresented in higher education (e.g. African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Latinx/Chicanx, Southeast Asian, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, immigrant, refugee).