Seminar Meetings Defined

The University Seminars Office values equity, collaboration, cross-disciplinary dialogue, and openness and aspires to create a professional space hospitable to the diverse intellectual interests of all participants. Each participant of The University Seminars community is responsible for contributing to a working environment where every participant feels equally valued.

Seminars invite members from CU and other institutions including, but not limited to, colleges and universities. If someone expresses interest in a seminar, they may request an invitation to attend a seminar as a guest by contacting the seminar chair directly and expressing their interest and qualifications in the seminar’s area of study. A list of Seminars and contacts can be found at The University Seminars main website here.

• Seminars are meant to foster unfettered intellectual exchange
• Meetings are private; they are attended by members and invited guests
• No honorarium is paid to any speaker
• Membership is voluntary; dues are not collected
• Membership is intended to create a collegial community through sharing ideas
   

There are currently over 90 independent University Seminars, from “Affect Studies” to “Population Biology” to “Women in Society,” all of them supported by an endowment established by founder, Frank Tannenbaum and his wife, Jane Belo. Seminars may bring in outside speakers, or keep the discussion between members. Some seminars organize public conferences and other special events to continue the conversation beyond their private meetings.

Each seminar elects a chair or co-chairs who administer meetings. Chairs hire a graduate student rapporteur, who takes minutes at all seminar meetings and submits a copy to the office. The office keeps these records private for five years, at which time they are incorporated into The University Seminars Digital Archive.

University Seminars programming runs during the academic year (fall and spring semesters only). Outside these semesters, travel funding, meeting space, and rapporteur services are unavailable. Chairs may hold organizational meetings over the summer at their own expense, but these meetings will not require minutes and will not be documented in the Annual Report.