Letter from the Lecture Committee
September 2023
Dear Colleague,
We are writing to let you know about the availability of support from the various College lecture funds and to invite requests for lectures and events for the 2023 - 2024 academic year. The Committee would especially welcome applications directed to the Lamont Lectureship, which can support events on a larger scale than other funds.
Though demands tend to be extremely heavy on the limited Lurcy and Eastman funds, we do hope to sponsor a broad range of events. Since the increase in the number of faculty leads to a higher demand for funding of lectures, we are forced to become more diligent in maintaining the policies of the lecture funds so that every faculty member has a chance to request and receive funds. If you are planning on bringing more than one speaker to campus as part of a series or conference, we encourage you to submit your requests promptly to ensure the availability of funds.
A request for support should originate from members of the Amherst College faculty or from academic department coordinators. The Faculty Lecture Committee support events that are primarily academic in character. Please refer to the application for funding for more itemized expenses information.
Below we list the lecture funds and their status. To submit a request for funding, please visit the Lecture Committee website, which can be found on the Provost and Dean of the Faculty's website under “Faculty Committees.” Please send your completed request for funding application to flc@amherst.edu.
Please note that a visitor invited for an in-class lecture is eligible only for Eastman and Cummings funds. Requests for Lamont or Lurcy funds require a campus-wide and/or virtual general public component.
The Eastman Fund is used to support guest speakers and other kinds of course-related events. For the Eastman requests, the honorariums for virtual visits may not exceed $250.00 and in-person visits may not exceed $500.00 (depending on the extent of visit and funding availability). The total request may not exceed $1,500.00 per course per semester.
The Samuel Cummings '26 Lecture Fund is intended for “an annual or biennial lecture in one of the … academic fields of Anthropology, Archaeology, Psychology, and/or Sociology.”
The Corliss Lamont Lectureship for a Peaceful World is intended to support Amherst College in furtherance of the institution’s academic purposes and, more particularly, in furtherance of the cause of peace in the world. “The cause of peace in the world” is to be interpreted flexibly and a public component is suggested for this fund.
The Georges Lurcy Charitable and Education Trust supports lecturers from other countries, or lecturers who address topics relating to countries other than the U.S., to expose students and faculty to international perspectives and diverse cultures. To qualify for Lurcy funding, proposed events must include a public component and meet certain additional requirements.
We highly encourage events that engage a wide audience and that seek to bring together different communities with a variety of academic backgrounds.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Vanessa Walker (Chair)
Dwight Carey
Ren Wiscons