We welcome you to the Institute for Advanced Study

President's InitiativePresident Bruininks established the Institute for Advanced Study in 2005 as an incubator of new ideas and a venue for interdisciplinary collaboration, exploration, and research that encourages breakthrough discoveries to advance the frontiers of knowledge.

Programs include:• Residential Faculty Fellowships• Thursdays at Four public lectures and presentations• University Symposium• Quadrant Program with the University of Minnesota Press• Research and Creative Collaboratives

November 30-December 1, 2006Workshop on Race and Pedagogy

Karen Ho (Anthropology), Keith Mayes (African American and African Studies), Rose Brewer (African American and African Studies), Tom Romero (Hamline University School of Law), and Richard Martinez (Chicano Studies).

The IAS brings together researchers from across the University.

Back: Ritu Bhatt (Architecture),

Yu-Ju Chien (Sociology), Nancy Luxon

(Political Science), Mark Pedelty

(Journalism), Matt Huber (Quadrant), Heidi Stark (UMD-

American Indian Studies), Jenny Schmidt (Art).

Front: Juliana Hu Pegues (American Studies), Ann Waltner (IAS), Leena Her (Hmong Studies), Lisa Uddin (Quadrant), Jean Langford (Anthropology), Alisia Tran (Psychology), Teresa Gowan (Sociology).

IAS Residential Fellows, Fall 2009

University faculty spend a semester in residence at the IAS. Fellows focus on creative work, research, and writing. They meet weekly to discuss, critique, and support colleagues’ work.

“Natural Rhythms and Time”

An Exploration of Time in Nature at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum took place on April 26, 2008, despite freezing temperatures and a driving snowstorm.

Faculty, students, and community members take intellectual risks together.

The range of events in our weekly series is deliberately eclectic. People from many disciplines talk about or perform their work. We put ideas in unexpected juxtaposition to lure you to experience something out of your ordinary range of interests and expertise, to be stimulated and challengedto think about new topics or to think about old topics in new ways.

“Developing a Three-dimensional Body Satisfaction Intervention”

A roundtable discussion with Karen LaBat, Karen Ryan, Carol Peterson, and Chad Sowers

February 10, 2011

Thursdays at Four

“A Short History of Feeding the World: American Universities and the Changing Discourses of Food”

March 3, 2011

Thursdays at Four

‘Saving Babies for Two Dimes a Day’: The Politics of Hunger and Race in Memphis - A talk by Laurie Green

April 21, 2011

Each year the Institute for Advanced Study offers the University Symposium, a series of connected events that explore a critical issue from a variety of vantage points.

University Symposium

2005-06 Politics of Population

2006-08 Time

2008-10 Body & Knowing

2010-12 Abundance and Scarcity

2012-14 Site and Incitement

Survey of avian flu patterns in a talk by Stephen Morse of Columbia University on global surveillance and early warning systems for epidemic diseases, particularly influenza.

University Symposium 2005-06The Politics of Population

With the support of a symposium research award, David Odde (Biomedical Engineering) led a group of chemical and biomedical engineers, artists, and film scholars to look at the catastrophic interactions of nanotubules and of popular imagery.

University Symposium 2006-08Time

“What Is Sexual Difference Now?” Symposium and conversation with Elizabeth Grosz and Joan Copjec

November 13, 2009

“Body Language: Human Dissection, Professional Identity, and the Aesthetic Grounding of Modern Medicine” Presentation by John Harley Warner

October 12, 2009

University Symposium 2008-10Body & Knowing

Experiments on Rivers: The Consequences of Dams - An interdisciplinary conference

November 11-12, 2010

University Symposium 2010-12Abundance & Scarcity

An Embarrassment of Riches: Picturing Global Wealth - Exhibit opening at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

September 17, 2010

Quadrant provides research residencies and other opportunities for collaborative interactions at the IAS and supports publication of the resulting work by the University of Minnesota Press.

Focusing on emerging areas of groundbreaking interdisciplinary scholarship, Quadrant has created four groups:

Design, Architecture, and Culture

Environment, Culture, and Sustainability

Global Cultures

Health and Society

QuadrantA joint program of the University of Minnesota Press and the Institute for Advanced Study, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Paula Lupkin, Quadrant visiting scholar spring 2011, presented “A Lager Landscape: The Cultural Economy of Beer in the Great Southwest.”

Eric Avila, Quadrant visiting scholar spring 2009, presented “The Folklore of the Freeway: Highway Construction and the Making of Race in the Modernist City.”

Quadrant: Design, Architecture, and Culture

Examines how architectural and design practices are inscribed with cultural and social meaning.

Jeremy Bryson, residential fellow in fall 2010, is developing his project “The Nature of Gentrification: Urban Environmental Veneers and the Remaking of the Spokane Riverfront.”

Lisa Uddin, residential fellow in fall 2009, is developing her project “Breeding Grounds: Race and Renewal in American Zoos.”

Quadrant: Environment, Culture, and Sustainability

Explores social and cultural aspects of land use, environmental policy, and ecological sustainability.

Brand Aid: Shopping Well to Save the World (UMN Press, 2011)

Stefano Ponte and Lisa Ann Richey examine the rise of a new modality of development financing in which celebrities ask consumers to 'do good' by buying particular brands.

Quadrant: Health and SocietyFocuses on the social impact of infection, disease, and medicine.

Quadrant: Global CulturesFocuses on the historical roots, current processes, and cultural impact of globalization.

Yasmeen Arif, in residence spring 2009, developed the project “Afterlife: Recovering Life after Catastrophe.”

Each year the IAS supports collaboratives of scholars and artists who work on innovative interdisciplinary projects. Collaboratives may bring together scholars from fields as diverse as biology and dance.

For example:

Choreography of the Moving Cell

Carl Flink (Theatre Arts and Dance) and David Odde (Biomechanical Engineering) are working together to design a “Cellular Catastrophe Arena.” Dancers wearing protective suits learn about the subcellular changes within the human body and recreate the collisions between molecules and the creation of microtubules in order to test new theories about cell biology.

Research and Creative Collaboratives

IAS supports interdisciplinary research and public programs carried out by clusters of scholars and artists. For example:

Dubai, Inc.How can the visual arts be used to raise critical questions about identity, economics, and sustainability with respect to the rapid growth of this global mega-city?

How can art help communities to understand the benefits and consequences of rapid growth?

Research and Creative Collaboratives

In spring 2010, American playwright Leigh Fondakowski and Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa were Imagine Fund Distinguished Visiting Chairs, hosted by the IAS. They presented a series of six public conversations entitled “Artistic Thought: Conception and Experience.”

The IAS hosts visiting scholars and fellows from around the world.

More information:

Please visit the IAS website at www.ias.umn.edu for more information.

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