Macy House highlights — Humanities, International Studies

The Jesse Macy 1870 House, at 1205 Park Street, became the new home for many of the College's distinguished programs earlier this year. Jesse Macy 1870 was a highly respected professor, author of one of the earliest U.S. government textbooks, and one of the foremost political scientists of his time.

Previously nicknamed the "center for centers," the Macy House brings together programs and centers that regularly enrich the lives of Grinnellians by providing special speakers, performers, and research opportunities and by bridging the boundaries between academic disciplines.

Our second installment in this three-part series profiles the Center for the Humanities and Center for International Studies.

Center for International Studies

• Bringing prominent international scholars and artists to campus to teach short-term courses to Grinnell students;
• Sponsoring on-campus events that address international issues;
• Administering a twenty-year-long partnership with Nanjing University in China, which allows Grinnell faculty and recent graduates to teach in China and brings Chinese scholars to campus;
• Maintaining a database of the Grinnell faculty's international experience and interests;
• Sponsoring a biannual Faculty Development Seminar that takes a group of faculty to an international location for study and professional development;
• Working with faculty to establish international research partners; and
• Collaborating with the Office of International Student Affairs in integrating the experiences of Grinnell's international students into campus life.

Highlights

In the 2008–09 academic year, the Center will host:

• Marta de Menezes, a Portuguese artist, who will teach a short course on "Biology as a New Art Medium;"
• Michael Coyle, a Canadian specialist in aboriginal rights, who will teach a short course on "Power, Justice and Aboriginal Rights;"
• G.J.V. Prasad, an Indian scholar of postcolonial literature, who will teach a short course on "Indian English;"
• Peter Kroneck, a German chemist, who will teach a short course on bioinorganic chemistry.

Center for the Humanities
The Center for the Humanities supports superlative research and teaching in the humanities and highlights the indispensable role of the humanities in any attempt to lead a meaningful, ethical life. It provides a place where scholarship can be pursued and nurtured as a goal worthy in its own right, whether it directly furthers curricular efforts or not.

The center seeks to model humanities scholarship to our undergraduates, who may participate in a wide range of the center's programming. It provides faculty with an opportunity to exchange ideas with scholars both locally and around the world, offers an ongoing forum for sustained communication between the humanities and other academic endeavors, and gives selected students an opportunity for intensive intellectual collaborations with faculty.

Jeanette Roan will be the center's Visiting Scholar in Residence for 2007-08. Roan works in the field of visual culture, the center's focus this year. While here, she will teach a course each semester, participate in the center's annual symposium, and work with faculty pursuing research related to visual culture.

Roan received her B.A. in visual arts from Brown University and her Ph.D. in visual and cultural studies from the University of Rochester. She comes to us from George Mason University, where she taught film and media studies, cultural studies, and English. In her book On Location: Travels to Asia on the American Screen, forthcoming from University of Michigan Press, she explores the emergence of cinema during the "age of empire," race and ethnicity in U.S. film, cinema and Asian Pacific American culture, and globalization and culture.

Highlights

• Each year, one student of great scholarly promise is chosen as a Post-Baccalaureate Fellow, and spends the year developing a major research project under the mentorship of visiting scholars and Grinnell faculty.
• The center sponsors regular works-in-progress meetings, where Grinnell faculty present ongoing research to their peers.
• Distinguished Visiting Professors from around the world spend part or all of a semester at the center, sharing their research with students and faculty. Renowned scholars who have visited Grinnell included Peter Dews, Rosi Braidotte, Sander L. Gilman, Drucilla Cornell, and Larry Grossberg.