About the Seminar
Navigating Academic Freedom and Democracy on a Public University Campus in America’s Heartland
The Sawyer Seminars will bring together researchers at all levels and members of the public to examine the relationship between higher education and democracy, address contemporary challenges to academic freedom, and consider how universities might adapt different pedagogical strategies for generations to come. The series, supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is a collaboration among the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Center for Democratic Governance and the Kansas Data Consortium within the Institute for Policy & Social Research, and the Provost's Office of Community Impact. The project is led by Hall Center Director Giselle Anatol with co-principal investigators Nicole Hodges Persley, Christopher Koliba, Randall Fuller and William Duncan.
The Andrew W. Mellon Sawyer Seminars Fellowship
The Mellon Foundation established the Sawyer Seminars (named in honor of Mellon’s third president, John E. Sawyer) in 1994 to provide funding to institutions for comparative research on the historical and cultural factors in current affairs. The seminar format is unique and allows for collaboration among a broad and, in many cases, interdisciplinary group of scholars, as well as engagement with the campus community and the wider public. More than 250 scholars and 70 institutions have taken part in the Sawyers since their inception. Read more on the Mellon Foundation website.