2007 Summer Institute, Call for Course Proposals

[Joan Bresnan]

CALL FOR COURSE PROPOSALS
Final deadline for receipt of proposals:  March 15, 2006.

2007 Summer Linguistic Institute
Stanford University
Stanford, CA, July 2-27, 2007

Overview

The theme of the 2007 Linguistic Society of America summer institute,
'Empirical Foundations for Theories of Language', takes its
inspiration from Weinreich, Labov and Herzog (1968) 'Empirical
Foundations for a Theory of Language Change'.  The institute will be
organized around emerging directions of linguistic research,
showcasing new methodologies which complement or enhance existing
ones, with the goal of enhancing the grounding of linguistic theory in
all parts of the field.  The curricular content of the institute aims
to inspire the broadening and clarification of the empirical basis of
our field, leading directly to the refinement of existing theoretical
models or the development of new ones.

We are also interested in offering courses which cross the boundaries
of traditional subfields of linguistics, many of which have been drawn
because of historical accident or technological limitations.  As
research refocuses itself around new core areas, a redefinition of
some of the main theoretical issues within the field is to be
expected.

For these reasons, we especially seek courses aimed at opening up new
lines of inquiry, rather than surveying the generally-accepted state
of the art in the field.  In addition to courses taught by faculty
invited by the institute's organizing committee, we will also include
courses obtained by the proposal solicitation process described
below. The proposal evaluation committee (see below) includes scholars
from diverse academic institutions.

The institute will take place from July 2nd to July 27th, 2007 at
Stanford University; there will be 4 teaching weeks, and most classes
will consist of 8 105-minute meetings.  Faculty who teach at the 2007
institute will each receive a living stipend, and reasonable travel
costs.  To supplement these, we are seeking additional funds to
provide a modest honorarium, per course.

We therefore solicit proposals for courses, in any area of the field,
conforming to these guidelines:

Course Descriptions

Please provide the following information.  Each submission should be a
single pdf file.


(1) Title of course.

(2) Instructor(s): name, current affiliation, current title, year and
institution of Ph.D.

(3) Brief CV(s), including description of teaching experience (noting,
where relevant, connection to the proposed course).  An explicit
rationale should be provided if more than 2 instructors are proposed.

(4) Description of course content (1-2 pages), including a statement
of the course's relevance to the theme of the institute.  An
additional 1-page reading list is desirable.

(5) Tentative outline of course schedule (8 x 105-minute sessions).

(6) Prerequisites for students in the course (these must be explicitly
given in every course proposal).

(7) Maximum enrollment (if relevant). (see below)

(8) Ideal companion courses or synergistic activities. (see below)


FINAL DEADLINE for receipt of proposals:  March 15, 2006.
We anticipate notification in early summer 2006.

Additional Information

Some courses may be limited in size due to technical needs (e.g.,
available lab space) or inherent content (e.g., being labor-intensive
for the instructor).

The last category above, `ideal companion courses or synergistic
activities' is for planning purposes - certain courses would naturally
complement other ones, for example, or certain courses may naturally
lead to a workshop, or one-day presentation session, which would
enhance the intellectual activity of the institute.

Please send enquiries and proposals to: linginst07prop at stanford.edu.

Institute website:  http://linginst07.stanford.edu

Institute Director: Peter Sells

The committee to evaluate proposals has the following members:
(AD = Institute Associate Director.)

  Mary Beckman (The Ohio State University)
  Juliette Blevins  (AD; University of Leipzig)
  Kay Bock (University of Illinois)
  Lyle Campbell (University of Utah)
  Eve V. Clark (AD; Stanford University)
  Kai von Fintel (MIT)
  Jeanette Gundel (University of Minnesota)
  Larry Horn (Yale University)
  Dan Jurafsky (AD; Stanford University)
  Beth Levin (AD; Stanford University)
  Norma Mendoza-Denton (University of Arizona)
  Ivan A. Sag (AD; Stanford University)
  Paul Smolensky (John Hopkins University)
  Donca Steriade (MIT)
  Raffaella Zanuttini (Georgetown University)