Opportunities for Graduate Students in Digital Humanities
The HASTAC Scholar program is a great opportunity for graduate students in the humanities with interests in the use of digital technologies in teaching and scholarship. The CFT will sponsor one of the four 2012-13 HASTAC Scholars, with our Scholar undertaking a survey of technology use by Vanderbilt graduate students in their teaching here on campus. If you have questions about the program, please feel free to ask! –Derek Bruff, CFT Director
Vanderbilt University’s Center for Teaching; Center for Second Language Studies; Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy; and Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities invite applications from graduate students who would like to be 2012-2013 HASTAC Scholars. HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) is a global network of individuals and institutions that come together to share, collaborate, and learn through online forums, blogs, conferences, social media and other channels of communication. Four graduate students will be appointed as HASTAC scholars. The appointment includes a $500 award as well as funding to attend the annual HASTAC conference in Toronto in February 2013. These scholars will serve as Vanderbilt’s digital ambassadors to HASTAC.
The HASTAC Scholars program is designed for graduate students who are engaged with innovative projects and research at the intersection of digital media and learning, 21st-century education, the digital humanities, and technology in the arts, humanities and sciences. HASTAC Scholars blog about digital activities on their home campus, host forums, organize events and discuss new ideas, projects, experiments, and technologies that reconceive teaching, learning, research, writing, and structuring knowledge. For more information, see the HASTAC Scholars website.
Cory Duclos, a graduate student in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, was Vanderbilt’s first HASTAC scholar last year. He briefly described his experience with the organization as follows: “HASTAC gave me the opportunity to engage with other like-minded scholars and learn about how technology is shaping higher education. It has helped me develop new approaches to both my teaching and research and to gain a better understanding of the major challenges facing professional academics and universities.”
Applications are welcome from students in any humanities or social science discipline.
TO APPLY AS A VANDERBILT HASTAC SCHOLAR
DEADLINE: NOON TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 4
Eligibility
Applicants must be enrolled in a Vanderbilt University humanities or social science graduate program on campus in 2012/2013, and in good standing in their graduate programs.
Requirements
Vanderbilt HASTAC Scholars will have four primary requirements for the year:
- Engage in a blog maintained on the HASTAC web site at least twice a month in which the Scholar reports on relevant activities at Vanderbilt University.
- Contribute to HASTAC Scholar Discussion Forums, either by hosting or commenting. These very lively discussions are part of the backbone of the HASTAC Scholars program.
- Build community and conversation by commenting, tweeting, covering conferences, and helping organize local meet-ups.
- Work with the Scholar’s sponsoring center on a project that supports the digital humanities at Vanderbilt. See below for project descriptions.
Note: We will work with each Scholar to be certain that the project is manageable in relation to demands of the student’s graduate program.
Sponsoring Centers
We will fund four HASTAC scholars for the 2012/2013 academic year. Each HASTAC scholar will be affiliated with a sponsoring center and will be engaged in a project that supports that center and enhances the student’s graduate program.
*Center for Second Language Studies. The scholar affiliated with this center will show a keen interest in rethinking pedagogy, learning and research in second languages and cultures through the use of technology. The Scholar will collaborate with affiliates of the CSLS, networking with faculty and participating in events throughout the year. Fall semester activities will center on the planning of THAT Camp (November 2 and 3), and spring semester activities will primarily focus on researching innovative uses for technology in the language classroom. The Scholar will work in close contact with director of instructional technologies Todd Hughes. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/csls/
*Center for Teaching. The Center for Teaching’s HASTAC Scholar will investigate uses of educational technology by humanities graduate students in the teaching they do at Vanderbilt as TAs or instructors, reporting on commonly used technologies to the CFT and highlighting innovative uses on the CFT blog. http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/
* Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy. The Curb Center is a national policy center committed to research and teaching that challenge leaders to rethink the place of art and creativity in our world. The Scholar will collaborate on arts events that reach across media (film, graphic arts, music, theater, creative writing, digital media) and projects that use the arts to promote social engagement in Nashville and with our national and international partners. Visit http://www.vanderbilt.edu/curbcenter/ and http://curbcreativecampus.org/ for more information on our programs.
* Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities. The Warren Center’s HASTAC Scholar will be a dynamic participant in the life of this interdisciplinary research center and will be encouraged to participate in a variety of Warren Center activities. The HASTAC scholar will help to maintain the Warren Center’s digital profile in a variety of ways including working with a unique digital archive recently completed by the Warren Center. Additionally, the Warren Center HASTAC scholar will serve as editor of the Center’s semiannual publication, Letters. http://www.vanderbilt.edu/rpw_center/
Selection Criteria
- Evidence that the applicant understands and shares HASTAC’s core values.
- Evidence that the applicant’s ongoing academic and professional goals will benefit from participation in HASTAC.
- Evidence of benefits to Vanderbilt and/or local community from the proposed participation.
- A commitment to develop a project or otherwise work closely with the sponsoring center.
Application Process
Deadline: Noon, Tuesday, September 4
Submit the following materials by email to Hillery McAlpine Pate at hillery.l.mcalpine@vanderbilt.edu by noon on Tuesday, September 4.
- A letter of interest (no more than one page) indicating how participation in HASTAC would benefit the applicant and how his or her work to date reflects HASTAC’s principles.
- A curriculum vitae
- An email from your academic advisor addressed to hillery.l.mcalpine@vanderbilt.edu stating the following: “I affirm that [APPLICANT’S NAME] is in good standing in [NAME OF GRADUATE PROGRAM] and will be on campus for the 2012-2013 academic year. I support this application to the HASTAC Scholar program.
For more information or questions contact Hillery McAlpine Pate at 343-6060 or hillery.l.mcalpine@vanderbilt.edu.
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