Greetings from Susan Gehr and Jean-Luc Pierite, the co-conveners for CoLang 2019–2020 Advisory Circle. The CoLang Advisory Circle is seeking expressions of interest for hosting the 2022 Institute on Collaborative Language Research (CoLang). These should take the form of a two-to-three page proposal that minimally:
presents the qualifications of the proposed Director(s) (include participation at prior InField/CoLangs)
outlines any Institute-particular themes or approaches
presents possible fundraising strategies and sources of internal/institutional support, including for participant scholarships (fundraising, evaluating applications and administering)
states the likely available resources for personnel, housing, and classroom and technology support.
In addition to these four elements, things that might be added to make any proposal stronger include:
Listing official proposed partnerships, such as with tribal colleges/universities (TCUs) or with local tribal authorities, ideally with documentation in the form of letters of support
Confirmed commitment from the director's institution (also in the form of letters of support)
For proposals to be hosted outside the US, specific plans that the Director has for seeking funding commensurate with the NSF funding that has typically been awarded to US institutions hosting CoLang
For proposals to be hosted by non-academic institutions, confirmation that the institution is eligible to apply to NSF for funding, or if not, specific plans that the Director has for seeking commensurate funding
The letters of support do not count against the three-page proposal limit. One additional page can be added to list any already-known funding or in-kind contributions.
Before sending out a full proposal, please send a brief expression of interest in the form of a paragraph to both the Co-Conveners at susangehr@gmail.com and jeanlucpierite@gmail.com by 15 November 2019. Full proposals should be emailed to both the Co-Conveners by 15 January 2020. This call for proposals is also available online at http://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/colang-institute-collaborative-research.
All proposals received by that date will be considered by the Advisory Circle. The Advisory Circle may request additional information. Due to the nature of the event, priority is given to a local organizing committee whose members (at least one) have participated in earlier CoLang Institutes for at least 2 weeks of workshops. If selected, the Director(s) will head the Local Organizing Committee and will work closely with the Advisory Circle to develop themes, course content, and instructors. CoLang has an established partnership with the Linguistics Society of America, and the Director(s) and Local Organizing Committee will therefore also work with the LSA. The duties of the Local Organizing Committee are outlined in this paragraph from the Charter:
b. Local Organizing Committee
A given year’s Institute is organized and run by a Local Organizing Committee. The committee has the primary responsibility for that Institute. These responsibilities include major fundraising, advertising, all Institute administration including faculty and speaker contracts and payments, arranging IRB approval and dealing with issues of informed consent for the practicum (and elsewhere, if required), arranging venues, travel and any necessary visas, and accommodations for all participants, as well as volunteer staffing, airport transfers, social events, evaluation of each workshop/practica and non-programmatic arrangements made at CoLang such that the AC can apply the results to future institutes, and follow up reporting, and any other routine things as necessary. Programmatic decisions are made with guidance from the Advisory Circle. The local committee consists of a minimum of two members. One or more external members of the organizing committee might also be appointed, at the discretion of the local committee. In addition, the Local Organizing Committee might ask for others to take on particular organizing roles (e.g., talks, organization of evening and weekend activities, coordination of multi-instructor workshops).
The 2018 Institute was hosted by Aaron George Broadwell at the University of Florida at Gainesville. The UF Gainesville proposal is available from the co-conveners upon request. The 2020 Institute will be hosted by Susan Penfield and Mizuki Miyashita at the University of Montana.
We look forward to hearing from those of you interested in hosting in 2022 (and we encourage you to begin thinking about the possibility of hosting CoLang 2024). Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about hosting or the process of applying.
Susan Gehr and Jean-Luc Pierite
Co-Conveners CoLang Advisory Circle 2019–2020