Murray State University
Universität Regensburg
Europe in Transition Program

Europe in Transition Call for Proposals

Murray State University is again offering a two and a half-week summer seminar on “Europe in Transition” as a professional development and educational opportunity for faculty and staff. Presentations at past seminars have been drawn from a variety of subject areas and have examined several dimensions of the dynamics of change in Europe. The seminar encourages an interdisciplinary approach, focusing on exploration and integration of European topics from a variety of perspectives, augmented by resources in Europe. The team of presenters is selected through competitive review of proposals. Proposals are due February 17, 2006, and notification will be made by March 1, 2006.

Program objectives:

Professional and educational experience for all participants
Direct, concrete impact on internationalization of Murray State University
Stronger interdisciplinary teaching, research and interaction among faculty and staff

Who may submit proposals:

All Murray State University faculty and professional staff are eligible to submit proposals. The program is designed to strengthen participants’ understanding of European issues, and development of your presentation is expected to be a learning process in itself. Your proposal should describe your plans to research an issue that you will present to other seminar participants in August in Germany.

Project Guidelines:

Each project should consist of a two-hour presentation focusing on the seminar’s theme, “Europe in Transition.” The audience will be composed of MSU faculty and professional staff. Presenters are encouraged to supplement their presentations with European resources (tours, exhibitions, performances) as appropriate and feasible. However, the emphasis should remain on the idea to be communicated about Europe in transition. The proposal should not be the text of the presentation, but a prospectus of the project.

Questions?

If you have questions about developing your proposal ideas, contact Marcie Johnson in the Department of English and Philosophy (phone 3064). For other information, please plan to attend any one of the program information sessions listed below.

Europe in Transition Information Meeting
Tuesday, January 24, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. in ASN 306 or
Wednesday, January 25, 12:30-1:30 in ASN 304
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology

You are also invited to a workshop to help you develop your proposal. The workshop will help you clarify your thinking about the possibilities, prospects and even some potential problems as you plan your presentation.

Europe in Transition Proposal Workshop
Tuesday, February 7, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. in ASN 306
Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology

Sponsors:        Office of the Provost
                        Institute for International Studies
                        Regensburg Exchange Committee

Instructions for Proposals

Your proposal should include a title page and 3–5 additional pages. It should be written to the following format and submitted by e-mail to Marcie.Johnson@murraystate.edu or J ohn.Griffin@murraystate.edu by noon Friday 17, February, 2006:

I. Title Page: Provide the project title; your name, department, phone number, and e-mail address.

II. Project Description [75 points]: Describe and explain the presentation to be developed, providing enough detail to persuade readers of your project’s potential to fulfill the criteria listed at the bottom of this page. Your description should answer the following questions:

A. What topic do you plan to explore and present in examining the theme of Europe in Transition? What questions about this topic will your presentation research and address? What do you hope to help participants learn about Europe in Transition? Why is your topic important to understanding this theme? [25 possible points]

B. How will your presentation be relevant or significant to disciplines beyond your own? How might seminar participants from other disciplines or areas be able to use the information you will present? [25 points]

C. How do you plan to prepare for your presentation? What background is already available to you; what material will you need to develop; what resources will you seek to do so? [20 points]

D. What advantage do you expect to take of the European site for your presentation? [5 points]

III. Plans for Project Follow-up [25 points]:

E. Faculty and staff members whose proposals are accepted for presentation receive a grant from the provost covering program costs. In return, recipients agree to share the experience with the campus and broader communities in at least one of the following ways. Please indicate as specifically as you can your own commitment to one of the listed activities:

Presentation during MSU’s International Education Week;
Presentation at MSU’s Teaching and Technology Forum;
Work with a student to develop a research project for MSU’s Scholars’ Week.
Presentation(s) to your own residential college plus any others that might request the presentation;
Presentation to a student club, organization or professional group.

F. Specify other ways in which you plan to incorporate the seminar experience in your teaching, service, or research.

Proposal Evaluation

Section	Criteria	Possible Points
A	Extent to which the proposed presentation contributes to the theme, Europe in Transition.?	25
B	Extent to which the proposal reaches across traditional disciplinary boundaries.	25
C	Extent to which the proposal offers a logical and feasible plan for developing the material, activities, and information to be presented.	20
D	Extent to which the presentation will use European sites to enhance participants’ understanding and experience of Europe in Transition.	5
E & F	Extent to which the proposal seems likely to have a “direct, concrete impact on the international dimensions of MSU’s curriculum or campus life." (Potential for impact on self and campus)	25