Dear workshoppers,

It’s been too long! I hope your summers have struck that ideal balance between “restful” and “productive.” Before we embark on another year of workshoppery, it is necessary to take care of some business. Below you will find important information about this year’s schedule and opportunities to participate in the workshop. If you only read one post  from me this year, please make it this one.

Schedule:

We will meet approximately every two weeks on Thursdays from 12:00 pm until 1:15 pm. These are the dates we plan to meet:

October 9 (introductory meeting), October 23, November 6, November 20, December 4 (PhD application panel), January 15, January 29, February 12, February 26, April 9, April 23, May 14, May 28

Of course, I will remind you of these dates many times in the coming months, but why not mark your calendars now? You can also see these dates on the Schedule page of this very website!

First meeting:

Our first meeting on October 9 will be an opportunity to get to know each other and to talk about plans for the workshop. Additionally, we will introduce and discuss a theme or guiding question for this year’s meetings. We hope this theme will help connect and inform our discussions and presentations. Some time before that first meeting, I will distribute a brief reading that will introduce this year’s theme and get the conversation going.

Presenters:

We are looking for graduate students to present their work at our meetings. If you have (or will have) a dissertation proposal, dissertation chapter, conference paper, article draft, exam paper, or new piece of research that has something to do with religion in America and would benefit from some feedback, please email me at shields@uchicago.edu by September 22 with the date or dates on which you are available to present. It is worth noting that workshop presentations can be very informal, workshop discussions are friendly and supportive, and work presented can run the gamut from outlines to rough drafts to final drafts.

Respondents:

In order to get the conversation started at our meetings, we usually like to have someone respond to the week’s reading. Respondents speak informally for 3-5 minutes, highlighting important themes of the reading and raising questions for discussion. If you are interested in being a respondent this year, shoot me an email at shields@uchicago.edu–it’s helpful to have a list of people I can ask.

PhD Applicants Panel:

Are you a second-year MA student planning to apply to the PhD program this year? Would you like some feedback regarding your course of study petition? Get in touch with me at shields@uchicago.edu! If a few of you are interested, our December 4 meeting will be devoted to discussing your ideas and drafts.

Well, I suppose that’s enough information for one email. If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, do not hesitate to get in touch with me at shields@uchicago.edu. This is your workshop, and I want it to serve your needs and interests. Stock up on vitamin D, and I’ll talk to you soon!

— Kit