The deadline has passed.


Proposals were due by the extended deadline of 9am ET on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

BOUNDARY-CROSSING, FORGING CONNECTIONS, and BUILDING SCHOLARLY COMMUNITY
Supported by an award from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Corridor is a dynamic network, linking 11 universities and colleges, that cultivates innovative collaborative research, teaching, and programs across the region.

The Corridor is driven by Working Groups formed by scholars from across participating institutions to collaborate on a particular project/topic/concern. Groups apply for seed funds to host academic year activities (colloquia, screenings, writing groups, performances, teaching exchanges, workshops). Proposals for new groups are always welcome!

Working Group Activities take many forms, and the possibilities are endless—from a deep dive into a discipline to broad interdisciplinary queries, from convening to develop manuscripts, or explore humanities methods, to advancing community engagement and taking up key social issues.

Who Can Apply? We welcome proposals for activities by new and existing Working Groups from faculty and academic staff at Syracuse University, Cornell University, the University of Rochester, Colgate University, Hamilton College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Skidmore College, St. Lawrence University, Union College, Le Moyne College, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Proposal Categories

  1. New Working Group: Funding for new groups is up to $1500. Once a group is formed, it may submit proposals as a Continuing Working Group in categories 2 and 3, below.
  2. Continuing Working Group: Ongoing groups with activities occurring in more than one Corridor location over time may apply for up to $5000 per academic year (up to $2500 per activity).
  3. Signature Event: Established groups may submit proposals to support a high-impact event (e.g., conference, exhibit, performance) needing more funding ($10,000 cap, availability varies annually). Signature Events require a public component and substantive involvement from 3 or more Corridor institutions.

How do Working Groups “Work”?

  • Organizers are faculty/academic staff from Corridor institutions—and at least one WG Organizer must be from Cornell, Syracuse Univ., or Univ. of Rochester. Organizers form groups and coordinate WG activities. You can belong to (or organize) more than one group.
  • Each activity has an Organizer involved from the host campus where an activity will take place.
  • All groups and activities involve members from Corridor institutions in 2 or more locales/cities.
  • Each group selects a Research Cluster: Archives & Media (AM); Digital Humanities (DH); Historical Studies (HS); Humanities Futures (HF—new this cycle); Inequality & Social Difference (ISD—new this cycle); Linguistics (LIN); Literature, Language & Culture (LLC); Musicology / Performance Studies (MP); Philosophy / Critical Theory (PCT); Visual Arts & Culture (VAC).
  • An Intra-Corridor Travel Supplement helps convene WG members from different Corridor campuses and helps faculty/academic staff/graduate students attend Corridor activities (symposia, workshops, lectures, etc.) at other Corridor institutions. Guidelines are online.

Key Things to Know Before Preparing Your Activity Budgets and Submitting Your Proposal

  • Host Campus & Semester: Our funding stems from different Corridor endowments at three partner institutions (SU, CU, UR)—your WG awards are, in turn, tied to these endowments via the Host Campus and Semester specified in your proposal.
    • So, when preparing your application, consider carefully your host campus and semester, as these cannot be easily changed after awards are made.
  • Budgets and Honoraria: Corridor funding cannot be used to pay honoraria to individuals from Corridor institutions.
  • Budgets and Travel Costs: Only travel costs tied to invited speakers/scholars/artists NOT from Corridor institutions should be included in your WG activity budgets.
    • Intra-Corridor Travel Supplement funds are available separately, to help defray expenses incurred to convene WG members from different Corridor campuses, and for faculty, staff, and graduate students to attend Corridor activities at other Corridor Institutions.

What Are Some Examples of Working Group Activities? Learn more about current activities across the Corridor online. We also offer a sampling here to help generate ideas about what’s possible.

  • Writing Retreat: A weekend retreat for participants from 4 Corridor institutions to develop and share feedback on current research/writing projects, facilitated by an invited scholar in the field. Retreat included two workshops on writing processes, a series of feedback sessions, and individual writing time. Faculty participants spanned disciplinary backgrounds.
  • Poetry Reading, Roundtable, Class Visits: Internationally-renowned poets visited two campuses as part of a group’s research project on classical influences in contemporary poetry. There was a public roundtable with local scholars and visiting poets, class visits, and a poetry recital.
  • Lecture with Invited Scholar: A senior scholar gave a talk on the intersection of cultural politics and digital humanities, tracing—among other things—the publication history of a canonical women of color feminist anthology through its unofficial digital edition that first circulated on Tumblr, a social blogging platform, and other informal social networks.
  • Brainstorming Meeting: A group formed around shared interests in digital communication. In their initial year, they met to explore digital communication genres and scholarship, generate activity ideas for the next semester, and propose/organize events for the next academic year.
  • Lecture, Seminar, Class Visits on Multiple Campuses: An international scholar gave a public lecture on one campus, followed by a class visit and WG seminar on a second campus.
  • Manuscript Workshop: A group circulated works-in-progress, by graduate students and faculty, centered on the novel as an archive for exploring questions of class and gender across national and temporal boundaries. They then convened to share and discuss feedback.
  • Teaching Exchange: A group organized a teaching exchange of guest lectures across 3 campuses by scholars from Corridor institutions and by invited guests from outside the Corridor.
  • Regional Community Engagement: A group formed to improve communication among museums and cultural centers dedicated to some aspect of Haudenosaunee culture and education.

Deadlines: The Corridor has two annual deadlines (Fall and Spring) to submit proposals.

  • March 19 at 9am ET is the current/extended proposal deadline for academic year activities in 2020-21.
  • October 15, 2020 will be the Fall deadline to propose activities in Spring 2021 or in 2021-22.