Faculty Seminars
Each year, Five Colleges supports more than 35 seminars initiated by groups of faculty members who come together to share scholarly interests and discuss curricular issues. Seminars have budgets of $250 to $1000 and use their funding to share works-in-progress, host outside speakers, and co-sponsor events.
Faculty Seminar Guidelines for Application
Five College Faculty Seminars bring together faculty members from three or more of the five campuses to exchange ideas, discuss works-in-progress, and on occasion host guest speakers. Their formats vary according to the needs and interests of those participating, as does meeting frequency. Seminars are funded for the academic year on a year-to-year basis. Allocations never exceed $1,000.
Guidelines
- To be eligible for funding a seminar should include members from all five colleges, but three- and four-college seminars are possible.
- Guest speakers should constitute an occasional rather than regular feature.
- Seminar funds may not be used to cover the cost of meals for members but may pay for meals of guest speakers (including Five College faculty members) and for light refreshments at meetings (including beverages). Funds cannot be used to pay honoraria to faculty members from the five institutions.
- Due to the high volume of faculty seminars, Five College Consortium offices cannot be host to seminar meetings or events. Instead, groups should aim to meet in space provided free of charge on the campuses.
Application Instructions
Proposals for new seminars and renewal requests for 2024-25 are due on Friday, May 10, 2024. Late requests will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
To renew or create a seminar, complete the application form (see below) and send it to fcacademics@fivecolleges.edu.
Be prepared to provide the following information:
- Name of seminar
- Name(s) of the person(s) responsible for administering the seminar
- Description of the structure and purpose of the seminar
- Number of meetings anticipated and a list of faculty members who have agreed to participate
- A budget of projected expenditures for activities proposed (i.e., expenses for speakers, meeting refreshments, special materials supporting seminar discussion, etc.)
Eligible and Ineligible Expenses
Please check with Ray Rennard or April Shandor before agreeing to or incurring any expenses not mentioned below.
Eligible Expenses
- Reading materials for seminar members
- Printing/design costs for promotional materials
- Travel costs for visiting speakers
- Honoraria for visiting speakers
- Meal costs for visiting speakers
- Meal costs for Five College faculty members only when they are the main speakers at a seminar meeting
- Co-sponsorships
- Light refreshments (snacks and drinks, including alcohol)
- Event setup/AV costs
Ineligible Expenses
- Meal costs for Five College faculty members except when they are the main speakers at a seminar meeting
- Honoraria for Five College faculty members
How to Access Funds
In most cases, chairs or speakers will pay for their expenses directly and then apply for reimbursement from the seminar budget. For each reimbursement, applicants will need to submit a Check Request Form and supporting documentation (for details, see the chart on page 2 of the Check Request Form), as well as a W-9 form for every individual being reimbursed. W-9 forms should be submitted through campus/postal mail or by fax to 413-542-4028; do not send them via email, as it is not sufficiently secure.
All requests for reimbursement should be made by the seminar chair or with demonstrated approval from the chair. Bills should be submitted to Five Colleges, Inc. with a completed Check Request Form showing the name of the seminar and accompanied by other supporting documentation as appropriate (see below). Do NOT have bills sent directly to Five Colleges, Inc. without prior approval from Ray Rennard. If honoraria checks are needed by a certain time, they should be requested ten (10) days in advance, in writing, and should include a completed W-9 form from the speaker, as well as other supporting documentation (see below). For forms and further information, please see the Guide to Funds and Payments for Faculty. Completed Check Request Forms should be sent to fcacademics@fivecolleges.edu for processing.
Seminar chairs are responsible for keeping track of how much money has been spent and how much remains in their faculty seminar budget. Five Colleges, Inc. cannot cover expenditures beyond the funds allocated to your seminar. For an up-to-date record of all posted expenses, contact April Shandor. Please keep in mind that budget updates from Five Colleges may not reflect reimbursement requests or other funding commitments (such as co-sponsorships) that have not yet been processed.
The fiscal year of Five Colleges, Inc. ends on June 30. In order to process bills by that date, we must receive all outstanding statements or expenditures of your seminar by June 15. Bills received after June 30 will be charged to the next year’s budget. Any unused budget as of June 30 will revert to Five Colleges and cannot be carried over to the next fiscal year.
Please be advised that special rules apply for payments to students, payments over $1,500, and payments to non-U.S. citizens. For more information, contact April Shandor before committing to or incurring an expense and well in advance of your event so that we will have sufficient time to respond.
If you are part of more than one Five College initiative with a budget (e.g., a certificate program and a faculty seminar), please be sure to track your expenses separately and bill to the appropriate budget.
Supporting Documentation Required
Original itemized receipt
Highlight/denote alcohol costs separately
W-9 for individual being reimbursed
Check Request Form
Original itemized receipt
Highlight/denote alcohol costs separately
Highlight/denote speaker expenses separately (only speaker expenses will be reimbursed)
List of attendees and affiliations
W-9 for individual being reimbursed
Check Request Form
Copy of poster/flyer/email announcing event
Email/letter showing commitment of funds from chair
W-9 for individual being paid
Check Request Form
Receipt for bus/train/airline ticket costs OR copy of Google/MapQuest map showing mileage to/from destination (mileage is reimbursed at IRS rates)
W-9 for individual being reimbursed
Check Request Form
Copy of poster/flyer/email announcing event
Email/letter showing commitment of funds from chair
Check Request Form
Original itemized receipt
W-9 for individual being reimbursed
Check Request Form
FAQ
Every year there are about 35 active Five College faculty seminars, including groups that are meeting for the first time and groups that have existed for decades. For a current list, see below.
The average seminar meets 6–8 times per year.
The goal of the faculty seminar program is to facilitate cross-campus scholarly conversations and build and sustain collaborations.
In managing the faculty seminar program, we strive to fund and support as many seminars as we can; to be fair and transparent; and to comply with requisite financial reporting guidelines and best practices. We recognize that this means that there are a variety of procedures and regulations for you to follow, and we appreciate your help.
Checks are generally processed within 2–5 weeks.
This is a longstanding policy designed to encourage seminars to meet many times throughout the academic year. Dinner costs can add up quickly, especially for large groups, and can rapidly deplete modest seminar budgets, discouraging groups from meeting more frequently. Seminar funds, however, may be used to pay for dinner for Five College faculty members when they are the featured presenters at a seminar meeting. And, as noted above, there are many other ways to spend seminar funds, such as on snacks and drinks.
This is a tax auditing requirement.
If you have been paid or reimbursed by Five Colleges in the last two years, we should still have your W-9 on file. If you aren’t sure, we recommend that you send it again, to help us process your reimbursement as quickly as possible.
Faculty Seminars and Chairs, 2024-25
Kiran Asher
WGSS
UMass Amherst
kasher@umass.edu
Nicholas Caverly
Anthropology
UMass Amherst
ncaverly@umass.edu
Maria Galano
Psychology
UMass Amherst
mgalano@umass.edu
To Be Announced
To Be Announced
Pari Riahi
Architecture
UMass Amherst
priahi@umass.edu
Michael T. Davis
Art/Architectural Studies
Mount Holyoke College
mtdavis@mtholyoke.edu
Laure Katsaros
French/Architectural Studies
Amherst College
lakatsaros@amherst.edu
James Wald
History
Hampshire College
jwald@hampshire.edu
James Kelly
Library
Amherst College
jrkelly@amherst.edu
Andy Rotman
Religion
Smith College
arotman@smith.edu
To Be Announced
Virginia Closs
Classics
UMass Amherst
closs@umass.edu
Geoffrey Sumi
Classics
Mount Holyoke College
gsumi@mtholyoke.edu
Catherine Corson
Environmental Studies
Mount Holyoke College
ccorson@mtholyoke.edu
Ashwin Ravikumar
Environmental Studies
Amherst College
aravikumar@amherst.edu
Efadul Huq
Environmental Science and Policy
Smith College
ehuq@smith.edu
To Be Announced
Raphael Sigal
French
Amherst College
rsigal@amherst.edu
Carolyn Shread
French Studies
Mount Holyoke College
cshread@mtholyoke.edu
Kathryn Lachman
Comparative Literature
UMass Amherst
klachman@llc.umass.edu
To Be Announced
On Hiatus for 2024-25 Academic Year
To Be Announced
Monika Schmitter
History of Art and Architecture
UMass Amherst
mschmitt@umass.edu
Ajay Sinha
Art and Art History
Mount Holyoke College
asinha@mtholyoke.edu
To Be Announced
Cristiano Mazzei
LLC
UMass Amherst
cmazzei@umass.edu
Yan Wu
LLC
UMass Amherst
yanwu@umass.edu
Ombretta Frau
Classics; Italian
Mount Holyoke College
ofrau@mtholyoke.edu
Roberto Ludovico
LLC - Italian Studies
UMass Amherst
ludovico@frital.umass.edu
Maria Succi-Hempstead
Italian Studies; German Studies
Smith College
msuccihe@smith.edu
Jamie Rowen
Political Science
UMass Amherst
jrowen@umass.edu
Timothy Hart
History
UMass Amherst
tchart@umass.edu
Carolyn Shread
French
Mount Holyoke College
cshread@mtholyoke.edu
Corine Tachtiris
Languages, Literatures and Cultures
UMass Amherst
ctachtiris@umass.edu
Jenny Adams
English
UMass Amherst
jadams@english.umass.edu
Ingrid Nelson
English
Amherst College
inelson@amherst.edu
Susanna Ferguson
Middle Eastern Studies
Smith College
sferguson06@smith.edu
Rachel Green
Comparative Literature
UMass Amherst
rachel.green@complit.umass.edu
Rob Benedetto
Math and Stat
Amherst College
rlbenedetto@amherst.edu
David Zureick-Brown
Math and Stat
Amherst College
dureickbrown@amherst.edu
Tom Weston
Math and Stat
UMass Amherst
tweston@umass.edu
Erin Pineda
Government
Smith College
epineda@smith.edu
Ali Aslam
Politics
Mount Holyoke College
aaslam@mtholyoke.edu
Lloyd Barba
Religion
Amherst College
lbarba@amherst.edu
Tariq Jaffer
Religion
Amherst College
tjaffer@amherst.edu
Evan MacCarthy
Music and Dance
UMass Amherst
emaccarthy@umass.edu
Sanam Nader-Esfahani
French
Amherst College
snaderesfahani@amherst.edu
Jennifer L. Nye
History
UMass Amherst
jlnye@history.umass.edu
Carolyn Shread
French
Mount Holyoke College
cshread@mtholyoke.edu
Reyes Lazaro
Spanish
Smith College
rlazaro@smith.edu
On Hiatus for 2024-25 Academic Year
Paul Hacking
Mathematics and Statistics
UMass Amherst
hacking@math.umass.edu
Nathan Pflueger
Mathematics and Statistics
Amherst College
npflueger@amherst.edu
