With major support from the Dean of the College of Letters and Sciences, the Institute for Research in the Humanities and the Center for the Humanities inaugurated Faculty Development Seminars in the Humanities beginning in spring 2007. The Seminars provide a formal setting for faculty that promotes sustained collaboration and dialogue across disciplinary lines on a specific topic. This pilot project is designed to enhance the quality of Humanities Research at UW-Madison.

The Seminars enable an individual senior faculty member or a team of two senior faculty to teach fellow faculty for ten weeks (a weekly two hour seminar) on a topic of interest across the Humanities. The presiding faculty member(s) receives course credit and her/his Department receives funds for a replacement lecturer. The ten faculty members taking the course receive research funds to recognize their selection and to cover the costs of materials.