Disciplining Interdisciplinarity
Download the invitation and call for papers as a PDF

September 1, 2006

Dear Graduate Students:

The Graduate Syndicate of the department of theatre at The Ohio State University is planning an interdisciplinary conference for April 13-15, 2007. We invite graduate students from across the disciplines at Northwestern University, the University of Maryland-College Park, and The Ohio State University to submit their work. The call for papers and this invitation can be downloaded here.

We are proposing this event as a three-university conference. Our rationale in selection is twofold. First, from a pragmatic standpoint, both universities are within driving distance of OSU, which makes the event affordable for graduate student travel. Second, and more importantly, all three institutions maintain theatre or performance studies programs that emphasize interdisciplinarity. We feel that the cohorts of graduate students at these institutions will have much to say to each other.

Moreover, this conference will host one faculty member from each institution: Susan Manning from Northwestern, Frank Hildy from University of Maryland, and Tom Postlewait from OSU will serve as keynote speakers and also as respondents to the graduate student papers presented. In this way, participants will receive feedback from (and engage in a dialogue with) noted scholars who bring a variety of experience, methodological approaches, and theoretical concerns to our field of study.

In short, we imagine this conference as a place for graduate students from these three institutions to network and to forge relationships. We envision the 2007 event as a first step in what we hope will become an ongoing exchange between these institutions.

Please look over the call for papers. We hope to draw participants from across the disciplines, so please distribute liberally!

Sincerely,

Jennifer Schlueter	Nick Dekker
Conference Coordinator	President, The Graduate Syndicate

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