Intellectual Creativity and Modalities of Academic Collaboration

INTELLECTUAL CREATIVITY AND MODALITIES OF ACADEMIC COLLABORATION

DAVID SZANTON
President, The Ethnic Arts Foundation; Former Executive Director of International and Area Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Based on observations and experience during an unusual academic career, involving 5 years as a social science and humanities program officer with the Ford Foundation in Manila and Bangkok, 16 years developing and running research committees on the international staff of the Social Science Research Council, 10 years as Executive Director of International and Area Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and continuing academic engagements, I look forward to reflecting on the sources of intellectual creativity and the value of various modalities of academic cross-disciplinary collaboration.

The presentation will move from the origins, character, value, and limitations of the social science disciplines to an array of specific modalities – that is, specific programmatic (and relatively low cost) forms and activities – that both build upon and strengthen the disciplines, and generate fresh intellectual vitality at the levels of Doctoral Research, Graduate Education and Training, and collaborative thematic cross-disciplinary Research Planning and Publication.