The Oakley Center was established in 1985 to support 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 fellowships, colloquia with distinguished visiting scholars and Center-supported faculty research and reading groups. Each semester, about eight faculty Fellows are in residence and participate in a weekly research seminar. Through the Ruchman Fellowship program, two Williams seniors participate in the Fellows' seminar as well. 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. The Center's public events include occasional conferences and the annual Richmond, Weiss, and Davis Lectures. |
We invite you to join us for these fall 2016 events:
FACULTY COLLOQUIUM
Thursday, September 29 at 4:15 pm, Oakley Center
"Unloving: A Sociology of Negative Relations"
A conversation with Eva Illouz (Sociology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)
*This event is open to faculty and staff only, by RSVP*
FACULTY COLLOQUIUM
Thursday, October 13 at 4:15 pm, Oakley Center
A conversation with Jafari Allen (Associate Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies, Miami University)
*This event is open to faculty and staff only, by RSVP*
CONFERENCE: "Global Attachments"
Saturday, October 15, 10:00 am - 5:30 pm, Oakley Center
With Paul Amar (Global Studies, UC Santa Barbara), Jafari Allen (Anthropology, Miami University), Marlon Bailey (Women and Gender Studies, Arizona State Univesrity), Erica L. Williams (Cultural Anthropology, Spelman College), Richard Parker (Sociomedical Sciences and Anthropology, Columbia Univesrity), Svati Shah (Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, UMass Amherst), Elizabeth Bernstein (Women's Studies & Sociology, Barnard College)
*By RSVP only*
ANNUAL DAVIS LECTURE
Thursday, October 27 at 7:00 pm, Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall
Sonia Sanchez (Poet)
*This event is free and open to the public.
FACULTY COLLOQUIUM
Friday, October 28 at 8:30 am, Oakley Center
A breakfast conversation with poet Sonia Sanchez, as follow-up to the Davis Lecture address
*This event is open to faculty and staff only, by RSVP*
FACULTY COLLOQUIUM
Thursday, November 3 at 4:15 pm, Oakley Center
A conversation with Avinoam Shalem (Professor of the History of the Arts of Islam, Columbia University)
*This event is open to faculty and staff only, by RSVP*
FACULTY COLLOQUIUM
Thursday, December 8 at 4:15 pm, Oakley Center
A conversation with Professor of English Christian Thorne (Williams College)
*This event is open to faculty and staff only, by RSVP*
Oakley Center News
Senior Oakley Center Fellow and Williams College President Emeritus John Chandler was recently featured in an article in Newsweek Magazine: "Inside the Colleges that Killed Frats for Good."
The Chronical of Higher Education featured an article on the work of Daniel Everett (Dean of Bentley College and professor of anthropology and linguistics) who delievered the annual Richmond Lecture on March 13, 2012.
Siddartha Mukherjee, (Columbia and CU/NYU Presbyterian Hospital), who gave the annual Andrew B. Weiss, MD, Lecture on Medicine and Medical Ethics in 2010, has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
Barbara J. King of the College of William and Mary blogs about a recent Oakley Center symposium, "After Humanism," here. Information about the symposium (September 23-24, 2010), as well as conference pictures, can be found here.
Former Clark-Oakley Humanities Fellow Jonathan Katz, now head of a new visual studies program at SUNY-Buffalo, speaks out about the controversy sparked by a high-profile exhibition that he curated at the National Portrait Gallery: "Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture." The exhibition received a positive review in the Washington Post.
Link to Oakley Center past events, 2006-2013