Dear colleague,
You may be familiar with the Pew Scholars Program established in 1988 with
the aim of promoting scholarship among evangelical Christian academics.
Helping to increase networking among Christian intellectuals has always
been an important part of our mission, and this spring we hope to further
our efforts in this area. In addition to more conventional programs being
considered, one aspect of this new networking initiative will be the
development of Internet services and the encouragement of their expansion
where they are already being provided.
We have attached a survey to help us learn about the state of networking
among Christian scholars and about how we can best help strengthen it. We
would like to get your feedback on ideas currently being considered and
gather new ideas from you. The results of this survey will be shared with
all who participate and anyone else interested. Replies should be sent via
e-mail to my assistant, Andrew Koehl, at koehl.1@nd.edu or by fax to
219-631-8721. (If you know anyone else who would be interested in this
survey, please forward this message and survey to them or forward their
name and the name of their institution to us.)
Thank you for your time,
Nathan O. Hatch, Director
Pew Scholars Program
University of Notre Dame
**********************************************************************
Networking Among Christian Scholars - A Questionnaire
(from the Pew Scholars Program)
Return to Koehl.1@nd.edu
or
Fax to 219-631-8721
* Name :
* Name of institution:
**** I. BIOGRAPHICAL ****
1. What discipline are you in, and what are your specific intellectual
interests?
2. What is your current position? (undergrad, grad student, associate
professor, professor, etc?)
3. What kind of institution do you work for? (independent scholar,
research university, liberal arts college, seminary, community college,
junior college, etc?) Would you classify your institution as Christian or
secular?
**** II. GENERAL NETWORKING ****
1. Do you ever wish you had more contact with Christian scholars at
other institutions? Explain.
2. To what extent do you keep in contact with:
a. Christian scholars in your discipline at Christian colleges or seminaries?
b. Christian scholars in your discipline at secular institutions?
c. Non-Christian scholars in your discipline?
3. Which of the following do you use in networking with other
scholars? Which do you use the most?:
a. Professional conferences?
b. Colloquia with in-house colleagues?
c. Letter writing?
d. Phone conversations?
e. Faxes?
f. E-mail?
g. List-serv groups?
h. Internet news groups?
i. World Wide Web sites ?
j. Other?
4. What is the nature of your networking with other scholars, and
how does it influence your work? Are there factors which inhibit your
development of professional relationships with faculty at other schools?
5. Is there a society of Christian academics in your discipline?
If so, are you a member? Has your membership in that society resulted in
actual working relationships with other Christian scholars? If you are not
a member of such an organization, why not? How might this organization do
more to support Christian scholars and their scholarship?
6. The Pew Scholars Program is considering the following ideas
aimed at increasing networking among Christian scholars. Please let us
know what you think about the worthiness of the following ideas, along with
any suggestions you have for improving their effectiveness.
(a) Providing grants to enable prominent Christian scholars from research
universities to visit Christian colleges
(b) Sponsoring academic conferences with leading Christian scholars for
academics from both secular and Christian institutions, including providing
some travel money for attenders
(c) Programs to establish or strengthen a Christian academic society in
your discipline
(d) Establishing an inter-disciplinary journal written by and aimed at
Christian graduate students and supporting academic conferences for
Christian graduate students
(e) Sponsoring conferences at which talented graduate school bound
Christian undergraduates would present research papers prepared with the
assistance of mentor-scholars, perhaps from other institutions?
7. Which of the following types of conferences would you find most
helpful?...
(a) National conferences?
(b) Regional conferences?
(c) Interdisciplinary conferences?
(d) Conferences in your discipline?
(e) Conferences focused on a significant recent book in your discipline?
(d) Workshops moderated by a senior scholar at which scholars interested in
similar topics come together to work on their research in conversation with
one another?
(e) Week-long conferences?
(f) Traditional style conferences where prepared talks and responses are given?
(g) Conferences held during the summer months?
(h) Graduate or undergraduate student conferences?
8. In what other ways might a central office like the Pew Scholars
Program effectively assist Christian academics in networking with one
another?
9. Would you or your institution be interested in helping to
establish or develop any of the programs or services listed above?
**** III. INTERNET NETWORKING ****
1. Below are some Internet services which the Pew Scholars Program
is currently contemplating developing, providing links to, and/or
supporting the development of on other sites. Our hope is that these
services would increase networking among evangelical academics. Please let
us know what you think about the worthiness and feasibility of the
following ideas, along with any suggestions you have for improving their
effectiveness.
(a) Links to information about Pew programs, online applications for
fellowships and summer seminars, and contact information for alumni of Pew
programs
(b) Links to Christian colleges (The Coalition for Christian Colleges and
Universities is already doing this work for member institutions) as well as
secular institutions
(c) Links to academics' home pages (Christian and secular), and information
such as e-mail addresses, physical addresses, etc., sorted according to
discipline
(d) Links to sites of professional academic societies, and more
particularly to Christian professional societies, and the establishment of
sites for those societies who don't currently have one
(e) Links to on-line academic journals, and more particularly to Christian
academic journals
(f) The conversion of existing Christian journals to electronic form
(g) Information or links to information about a wide array of events of
interest: conferences, visiting professors, essay and fellowship
competitions, special journal compilations, from both Christian and secular
sources
(h) A Virtual Library (both a WEB and FTP site): (i) Downloadable texts and
links to downloadable texts which may be useful to Christian scholars,
especially texts of significance to the intersection of faith and
scholarship, including published and unpublished works, classical and
contemporary, by Christian and non-Christian authors, both articles and
monographs (ii) An area for uploading published and unpublished works,
reviews, papers from conferences, etc., which bring Christian perspectives
to bear on academic issues
(i) A Virtual Library which could eventually serve as a research library in
your discipline.
(j) Links to "e-mail lists" or list-servs, and the establishment of new
list-servs for different areas of academic interest. (CCCU has already
begun work on this)
(k) On-site newsgroups in different areas of academic interest, where
people can post messages or peruse messages at their convenience without
having to subscribe to an e-mail list (These newsgroups, however, might be
linked to the e-mail lists so that posts made to the e-mail list could be
included on the newsgroup)
(l) Separate sections with features of specific interest to graduate
students and undergraduates on the Web page
(m) Matching grants for the training of faculty in the use of Internet services
2. In what other ways might the Pew Scholars Program utilize or
support the utilization of technology to improve networking among
evangelical scholars?
3. Would you or your institution be interested in helping to
establish or develop any of the above services of programs?
************************
Andrew Koehl
Koehl.1@nd.edu
Pew Scholars Program
University of Notre Dame