Unless otherwise indicated, events at the Center are open to faculty and staff only.
Why does the Oakley Center circulate paper memos about colloquia?
Thursday, January 21, 4 pm
Pepón Osorio, artist, "A Methodology for Creating Art in the Community." This conversation with artist Pepón Osorio will explore his methodology of creating art with and in communities and provide an opportunity to discuss his current project with the Williams College Museum of Art. Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico, Osorio is a professor at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. Osorio is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (“Genius” grant) and the Legacy Award from The Smithsonian Latino Center. Osorio’s artwork, influenced by his experience as a social worker in The Bronx, usually evolves from an interaction with the neighborhoods and people among whom he is working. His process emphasizes the exhibition space as an intermediary between the social architecture of communities and the mainstream art world. Osorio is working with the Williams College Museum of Art in a year-long project in which he will visit Williamstown each month; hold a series of dialogues with community members relating to food, identity, class, and culture; and create an art installation that is exhibited first in the community in Summer 2010 and then at WCMA in Fall 2010. He is teaching a Winter Study at Williams in January 2010. He will also participate in a symposium in Fall 2010, in conjunction with the tenth anniversary of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture.
Tuesday, February 23, 4 pm
Margaret Graver (Classics, Dartmouth). Colloquium title TBA.
Thursday, April 8, 2010, 4 pm.
Sianne Ngai (UCLA). Title TBA.
Monday, April 12, 2010, 4 pm
Seyla Benhabib (Yale), Title TBA.
The Oakley Center was established in 1985 to support faculty research across the humanities and social sciences, with a special emphasis on interdisciplinary work. Since that time, it has come to play a vital role in the scholarly life of Williams College. The Center provides a meeting place where faculty and administrative staff can pursue their intellectual and research interests. It sponsors many events and programs throughout the year, some exclusively for faculty and staff and others for the entire campus and the wider public. Programs especially for faculty include colloquia with distinguished visiting scholars and Center-supported faculty research and reading groups. The Center's public events include occasional conferences and the annual Richmond, Weiss, and Allison Davis Lectures.
Williams faculty on leave may apply for Center Fellowships. The Center provides an office and research stipend. Through the Clark-Oakley Fellowship, offered in conjunction with the Research and Academic Program of the Clark Art Institute, the Center also provides an office and funding for one scholar, from outside the College, who will take part in the programs of both institutions. Each semester, about ten faculty Fellows are in residence and participate in a weekly research seminar. Through the Ruchman Fellowship program, one Williams senior participates in the Fellows' seminar as well.
Link to Oakley Center events, 2006-2009