About Research Seminars
Research seminars are year-long interdisciplinary discussion groups organized around compelling areas of intellectual inquiry. Convened by at least two full-time faculty members (at least one of whom is tenure-stream from a humanities or arts department), research seminars should identify and explore a central question that may lead to a research outcome such as a new center, conference, journal publication, research cluster, or grant application. Working toward these outcomes, seminar participants present their work to one another, invite visiting speakers, assign readings, and perhaps work collaboratively on a research project. Public Humanities projects can be developed through the research seminar but should be directly related to the research goals of the seminar participants.
Seminars meet at least three times per semester at the Denbo Center; are open to any UT faculty member, advanced graduate students by invitation, and scholars outside of UT by invitation. Seminars typically bring together researchers from different UT departments as well as different colleges on the UT campus. The two faculty conveners take responsibility for inviting members and organizing activities agreed upon by the group, such as work-in-progress workshops or film screenings. Faculty may apply to create a new research seminar or to renew an existing seminar. See below for both application forms. More information is available to UT faculty at the Denbo Center Sharepoint site.
*Departments of English, History, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures, Philosophy, Classics, Religious Studies, School of Art, Theatre, and the Natalie L. Haslam College of Music
The deadline for submission of both new and renewing research seminar applications is May 15 of the current calendar year.
Current Seminar Outcomes Report & Renewal Application
Current Research Seminars
Past Research Seminars
Black Women and Research from USA and the Caribbean: Our Paradigms of Preference
UT ranks tenth in the country among all universities, public and private, in the number of NEH fellowships received between 2004 and 2022.
Graduate students chosen to spend a year in the UTHC working on their dissertations graduate, on average, 1.5 years sooner, publish their first book sooner, and receive better job offers than other students in the humanities.
Faculty who spend a year at the University of Tennessee win NEH and other awards and publish award-winning books and research projects more quickly.