STUDENT DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS OPEN

The process for nominating the Student Director (SD) was amended slightly at the board meeting last week in Atlanta. Interested candidates for the position of 2012-2013 Student Director (position runs from January 1, 2012 - December 31, 2013) should submit their materials no later than December 1, 2010, to the current Student Director to be reviewed by the Graduate Student Committee, who will then make four recommendations to the AAR Nominations Committee. The Nominations Committee will select two candidates to be voted on by the AAR membership. Interested candidates must have their coursework completed by the beginning of their term (January 2012), and submit a brief bio, statement and CV (position description and complete submission details available here). Questions? Please feel free to contact the current Student Director, Elizabeth V. Lawson.

ANNUAL SPRING REGIONAL MEETINGS

Pacific Northwest Regional Awards

Congratulations to the following individuals who won awards for their papers at the Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting in May 2010:

• First Prize (undergraduate): Sarah Christiansen (University of Lethbridge), “The Secrets of My Prison-House: The Return of Repressed Catholicism in Hamlet”
• Second Prize (undergraduate): Michael Zosel (Seattle Pacific University), “The Lord, God of Israel: The Problem of Zionism in Jewish and Palestinian Liberation Theology”
• Graduate Award: Scott Ables (George Fox University), “Method, Motivation, and Trinitarian Thinking in Jürgen Moltmann”

SUMMER SEMINAR OPPORTUNITIES

Purdue Summer Seminar on Perceptual, Moral, and Religious Skepticism

Recent PhDs and ABD graduate students in philosophy, theology, psychology, or cognitive science are invited to apply for the 2011 Purdue Summer Seminar on Perceptual, Moral, and Religious Skepticism to be held at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN from June 8th to June 24th, 2011.  The seminar will be directed by Michael Bergmann (Purdue) and the guest speakers will be Justin Barrett (Oxford) and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong (Duke).

The topics of the seminar are:

• EPISTEMOLOGY: The epistemology of perceptual, moral, and religious belief
• SKEPTICISM: Responses to skepticism about perceptual, moral, and religious belief
• DISAGREEMENT: Moral and religious disagreement as grounds for unbelief
• EVOLUTION: Evolutionary accounts of moral and religious belief as reasons for skepticism

Participants will receive a stipend of $5,000 from which they will pay for their travel, food, and lodging.  The deadline for receipt of applications is December 1, 2010.  For more information, including information on how to apply, go to: http://www.knowinginreligionandmorality.com/seminar.html.

This seminar is funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

St. Thomas Summer Seminar in the Philosophy of Religion

Recent PhDs and current graduate students are invited to apply to participate in the 2011 St. Thomas Summer Seminar in Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology, a three-week long seminar organized by Dean Zimmerman (Rutgers) and Michael Rota (University of St. Thomas). The seminar will be held at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, Minnesota, from June 13th to July 1st, 2011. Participants will receive a stipend of $2900, as well as room and board.

Topics and speakers:

The Fine-tuning Argument
Robin Collins (Messiah College)
John Hawthorne (Oxford)
Bradley Monton (Colorado-Boulder)
Luke Barnes (Dept of Physics, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich)

Evolutionary Explanations of Religious Belief
Justin Barrett (Oxford)
Jesse Bering (Queen's University)
John Greco (Saint Louis University)

Divine Hiddenness
J. L. Schellenberg (Mount Saint Vincent)
Peter van Inwagen (Notre Dame)

The Problem of Evil
Paul Draper (Purdue)
Eleonore Stump (Saint Louis University)

The deadline for receipt of applications is December 1, 2010. For more information, including information on how to apply, go to: http://www.stthomas.edu/philosophy/templeton/project.html

This seminar program is funded by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

International Dissertation Research Grants

Eligibility
Applicants for International Dissertation Research Grants must have been AAR student members for at least two years and must have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree except the dissertation.  Recipients of International Dissertation Research Grants are not eligible to make subsequent applications.  The Academy will make Grants only if there is a sufficiently diverse and rich pool of applicants. 

Application Materials
Candidates must submit the following by December 1, 2010:

• a letter of application (no longer than 3 pages) that describes their research project and how support for on-site research is critical for the completion of their dissertation
• curriculum vitae
• proposed budget and project timeline
• letter of support from their dissertation supervisor

More details are available here in the Grants Section of the AAR website.

Coalition on the Academic Workforce

The AAR is a member of the Coalition on the Academic Workforce (CAW), a group of higher education associations, disciplinary associations, and faculty organizations committed to addressing issues associated with faculty working conditions and their effect on college and university students in the United States. 

Recently the CAW has been focusing on contingent, adjunct, and part-time teachers and researchers. These are colleagues who are off the tenure-track, including faculty members employed either full- or part-time, graduate students remunerated as teaching assistants or employed in other roles, and researchers and post-doctoral fellows. 

As a part of its advocacy effort, the CAW has developed a survey regarding course assignments, salaries, benefits, and general working conditions of contingent faculty members and instructors. We invite all AAR members employed off the tenure-track to take the survey, which will be available until November 30. CAW’s website, featuring a link to the survey, is located here.

Facebook Group Approaching 1000 Members

The current membership of the Student Members and Friends of the American Academy of Religion currently stands at just under 1000. Both Speaking of Students and the Facebook group are initiatives of the Graduate Student Committee aimed at increasing awareness of current events of interest to students within the guild. The advantage of the Facebook group is that updates are in real-time, rather than published quarterly. Furthermore, anyone can post an announcement or begin a discussion. In order to augment the services provided to you with your AAR student membership, consider joining this Facebook group today!

Spring Conference Announcements Sought

1. Student Director Nominations Open
   
   
2. Annual Spring Regional Meetings
   
   
3. Pacific Northwest Regional Awards
   
   
4. Purdue Summer Seminar Call for Participants
   
   
5. St. Thomas Summer Seminar Call for Participants
   
   
6. International Dissertation Research Grants
   
   
7. Coalition on the Academic Workforce
   
   
8. Facebook Group Approaching 1000 Members
   
   
9. Spring Conference Announcements Sought