Submissions
New Seminar Proposal
Before submitting a new seminar proposal, please take a moment to look at the listing of current seminars. If there is another seminar already on the subject you are proposing, please address this in your letter. It is possible to have multiple seminars in a particular field if the approach or subject matter differs enough from the existing seminar to qualify as a new seminar.
All seminars must include participants from more than one department, and from outside Columbia. Members (from Columbia), and associate members (from elsewhere), must have PhDs or equivalent expertise. Some seminars admit selected graduate students as guests; some do not.
Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis through Submittable and are reviewed by a committee.
New Seminar Proposal Application
Publication Fund Requests
The University Seminars offers two publication subventions. To qualify for either award, the author must have presented at least some of the work at a University Seminar meeting. The manuscript or article must be accepted for publication, but not already in production.
The Leonard Hastings Schoff and Suzanne Levick Schoff Memorial Fund may be used for indexing, translating, technical editing, illustrating, or other publication costs of manuscripts or monographs produced under the auspices of The University Seminars in the fields of economics, sociology, psychology, penology, or the behavioral sciences.
The Aaron Warner Fund supports the publication of materials that emerge from a University Seminar. These publications do not need to fall under a specific field. Our Executive Committee named this book subsidy fund the Aaron Warner fund, in honor of the social scientist who was Director of The University Seminars for decades, and whose devotion to music on the one hand, and to the world of physics at Columbia, on the other, carried him far beyond the social sciences.
Special Seminar Meetings
Existing seminars may require from time to time additional funding for a “special meeting” event. These special seminar meetings may require expenses not normally covered by the University Seminars. For example, advanced audio visual needs, multiple guest speakers, additional space or catering needs, etc. Seminar Chairs must request advanced approval for this form of additional funding. Below are guidelines that need to be followed.
Conference Proposals
- The conference comes from the work of a seminar.
- Members of the seminar are committed to planning all aspects of the conference; graduate students and post-docs may not be the primary organizers.
- Organizers have secured or actively pursuing other sources of funding.
The Belo Award