bout the Medieval and Renaissance Semester
Created by Chancellor Loren Crabtree to enhance academic programs and enrich the cultural life of campus and community, themed semesters permit the University of Tennessee to showcase and develop its unique programs and resources. Themed semesters also contribute to the goals of the Chancellor's Ready for the World initiative: internationalizing the curriculum, helping students gain the international and intercultural knowledge they need to succeed, increasing the global competency of faculty and staff and focusing on intercultural issues.
Fall 2007 will be Medieval and Renaissance semester, prominently featuring programming developed by the Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, UT's NEH-endowed research institute. As in the past, the semester theme will be extended to numerous areas of study and opened to include not only faculty and students with special courses, seminars, and academic symposia; it will also welcome the community at large to outstanding programs in music and theatre, a special exhibit at the McClung Museum, and a Medieval and Renaissance festival, all of which are open to the public.
The Marco Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies will be spearheading the semester, an effort which coincides with the culmination of fundraising for the Institute’s prestigious National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) $3 million Challenge Grant. Dr. Robert Bast, Riggsby Director of the Marco Institute and Associate Professor of History, is responsible for orchestrating this enormous project, together with Marco Institute faculty from the departments of English, History, Classics, Religious Studies, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures, and the Schools of Music, Art, and Architecture.
Dr. Bast has defined three goals for Medieval and Renaissance semester: first, to advance Chancellor Crabtree’s program for enhancing the quality and value of the educational experience for students at UT through renewed emphasis on international and intercultural awareness; second, to stimulate the ongoing progression of the Marco Institute into the front ranks of North America’s finest Medieval and Renaissance studies programs; third, to utilize the energy generated by the semester to successfully complete fundraising for the NEH challenge grant. The completion of that grant will create a permanent $3 million endowment for the Institute that will provide for research, teaching, and outreach that directly benefit both the University of Tennessee and the community at large.