2025-26 Request for Lecture Committee Funds

Prior to the pandemic, the committee had conveyed to faculty that the volume of requests for funding far outstrips the resources under the committee’s purview annually. Expectations of de-densifying in space usage related to operations protocols, combined with a general support for a pivot away from the prior, heavily scheduled programming model will inform the committee’s decision-making for 2025-26.

We hope that faculty will continue to be creative in their approach to programming under these circumstances. To that end, in 2025-26, we will consider requests for traditional in-person events and virtual guest speaker engagements. Both types of events have enriched the intellectual and cultural life of the college and the wider community, and we provide the following guiding principles by which applications for funding will be reviewed under what we expect will be continued, exceptional, evolving circumstances.

This year the Lecture Committee is partnering with Conway Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center to support events that address systemic injustices and inequalities (e.g., food/health/tech/wealth justice) and tackle not only the immediate needs of impacted communities, but also promote long-term sustainability. Conway Center supports Smith faculty and students in thinking across disciplines, considering the interconnectedness of people, planet, and profit in order to make sustainable and impactful change. This year Conway’s themed student innovation challenge is related to the theme of Justice.

Application Deadlines for 2025-26 Events

August 29, 2025 - deadline for Fall 2025
September 30, 2025 - last call deadline for Fall 2025 events
December 2, 2025 - for Spring 2026 events
January 30, 2026 - last call deadline for Spring 2026 events

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Lecture Committee Guidelines and Criteria for 2025-2026

Applications that address the following three tenets will be given highest priority in review:

Focus on Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice: Events aligned with the college’s strategic plan, Lives of Distinction and Purpose, that encourage our community to “think, act and speak across difference; to foster belonging; and to change systems and practices that stand in the way of a truly inclusive community,” particularly events that move forward the work of Toward Racial Justice at Smith College.

Connection to Currently Offered Course(s)/Student Centered Planning: Public events that are explicitly connected to currently offered courses, with an identified student audience, particularly those with a broad appeal to introductory courses or other courses that amplify the first-year experience. Departments & programs might also partner with student stakeholders, including the Student Recreation Committee, to develop curricular and co-curricular programming.

Additionally, the Committee looks favorably on applications for events that:

Invite an interdisciplinary perspective, incorporating courses, engagement, and sponsors across disciplines and divisions;
Provide opportunities to engage in discourse on current events;
Inform the scholarly work of early-mid career faculty.

Informed by these principles, the criteria below apply to all applications in 2025-26:

All events funded by the Lecture Committee must be accessible to the Smith community, open to the public, and free of charge: Events that supplement specific courses as advised above may be scheduled during a class block, but must be made open to all members of the Smith community and general public. Faculty who hope to host an “in-class” speaker under these criteria should add a public lecture/performance made widely available, preceded or followed by a class-only discussion or similar. Events must be publicly advertised through the existing college channels: E-Digest; Five College Calendar, etc.

Honorarium:
- The standard amount awarded for a Lecture Committee request is $500.00 for a public lecture/performance for an individual from outside the Five College consortium. If an applicant believes an honorarium in excess of $500.00 is justified because of the value added by the lecturer to both students and faculty, the applicant can make the case to request up to $1,000.00. Examples of value added to a lecturer's visit may include additional student engagement (e.g. a lunch or tea) or time committed to discussion of issues of diversity, equity, or inclusion.
- $150 pp maximum for non-Smith speakers from within the Five Colleges;
- The Committee cannot increase the limits to the funding above to pay a speaker’s taxes. Honoraria for non-U.S. citizens are subject to varying tax-treaty and visa laws/regulations. Host applicants and their departments are responsible for reviewing the Controller’s Office policies on Payments in advance of planning an event or making an offer of payment to an individual;
- The Committee cannot approve funding for direct donations to an organization.

The Lecture Committee will uphold published application deadlines to ensure that everyone has the best opportunity to share in a finite pool of resources. While the Committee is open to helping faculty address unanticipated opportunities that arise spontaneously, the Committee urges faculty to avail themselves of this openness only when absolutely necessary As always, the Committee cannot award new or additional funding after events have already taken place. We will, when necessary, revise guidance and deadlines for 2025-26 events in alignment with operating mode updates.

In an attempt to make sure its resources reach as far as possible, the Lecture Committee carefully scrutinizes multiple requests from the same applicant or academic unit and funding requests that exceed $2000. The Committee encourages applicants to consider ways of reducing the overall cost of an event (e.g., Five College speakers, generally judicious use of honoraria). The Committee prioritizes funding requests from individual academic departments and programs before considering those from established co-curricular and other centers. Potential funding sources to be considered beyond the Lecture Committee include teaming with another Five-College department or program to host a series and split costs, and the Five-College Lecture Fund.

The Lecture Committee expects all applicants to first consult with their chair and administrative assistant for advice as to scheduling opportunities and conflicts, review the Smith online calendar, and to check with interested related departments or programs and the Office of College Events, to avoid scheduling conflicts and over-saturation of events.

All requests must be accompanied by the approval of the chair of the applicant’s home department/program.

Additional important information can be found in the Lecture Committee Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

Proceed*

I have reviewed the above and want to request funding from the Lecture Committee for an event this academic year.

COMPLETING THE APPLICATION

Enter all information requested in the form below. Fields marked with a red asterisk are required fields.

To Save and Continue Your Application at a Later Time:

Don't have all the information you need right now? That's okay - you can save and continue your form at a later time; here are the necessary steps:

Enter the information you do have.
Scroll to the bottom of the form and CLICK the "SAVE & CONTINUE LATER" button
A Jotform window will pop up asking you to Save Your Progress.
SELECT THE "Skip Create an Account" option at the very bottom of the pop-up window (DO NOT create a personal Jotform account).
A new window will pop up stating: "Your form has been saved as a draft. If you want to continue your form later, please enter the email address you would like to send the link to."
ENTER YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS, then CLICK "SEND LINK" Button to the right. If you do not complete this step you will not be able to complete your application in progress and will need to begin again.
You will receive an email at the address you provided, with your dedicated session ID link for your form-in-progress. SAVE THAT EMAIL. You will need that link to access your form until you submit in full.
If you're working on your form over multiple sessions, you MUST HIT THE "SAVE & CONTINUE" BUTTON in each subsequent session in which you enter new information but do not submit. If you do not either Save or Submit the form in full during a session, any new information entered will not be retained.

Submitting Your Application to Your Chair for Dept Approval and to the Lecture Committee: Your application is not sent to your Chair for required department level approval OR to the Lecture Committee for review until you Preview Your Form before submission and and then click the SUBMIT button that follows and not before, regardless of any information saved pre-submission. All fields marked with a red asterisk* are required.

Chairs: the Lecture Committee cannot review an application until the Chair Approval step is completed.

NAME of Requestor (Applicant/Primary Faculty Host)*

First NameLast Name

EMAIL of Requestor (Applicant/Primary Faculty Host)*

example@example.com

DEPARTMENT/PROGRAM of Requestor (Primary Hosting Department/Program)*

Select your department/program from the drop-down list

If Other, enter name of Program or Center:

Is the Applicant ALSO the Department/Program CHAIR?*

Name of Dept/Program CHAIR

First NameLast Name

Email of Dept/Program CHAIR

example@example.com

DEPARTMENT APPROVAL (to be completed by Chair only)

The department/program approves this application and supports this event as described

Name of Dept/Program Academic ASSISTANT*

First NameLast Name

Email of Dept/Program Academic ASSISTANT*

example@example.com

Title of Event

Enter event title (if series, enter series title, not every event title)

Type of Event*

Date & Time of Single Event

DateHourMinutesAM/PM Option

Multi-Day Details - enter all events

Series Duration:

Series Details - enter all events in the series

Is Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice the central theme of the event?*

The event is aligned with the college’s focus on Equity, Inclusion, and Racial Justice in the following way:

Briefly, in 2-3 short sentences (you will have an opportunity to go into greater detail in the main Description section below)

Is the event associated with current course offering(s)?*

If Yes, which course(s):

Does the event actively include other student organizations/stakeholders?*

If yes, please describe briefly the curricular/co-curricular relationship and benefits:

Briefly, in 2-3 short sentences (you will have an opportunity to go into greater detail in the Detailed Description section below)

This event (select all that apply), include specifics in the Detailed Event Description field:*

Involves courses, engagement, and/or sponsors across disciplines and divisionsProvides opportunity to engage in discourse on current eventsInforms the scholarly work of early-mid career facultyNone of the above

Detailed Event Description:*

Drag right hand corner of field to increase viewable area

Upload Additional Documentation to Support this Request (e.g. Curriculum Vitae, more detailed summary of complex event, etc.)

Browse Files

Anything else you want the Committee to know about this event?

EVENT COSTS: Because only one allocation of funds from the Lecture Committee will be made, it is important to anticipate all expenses for your event(s). Please review the Lecture Committe line item limits here. Once reviewed:

Click here to access a Google Sheet template;
Then, click on the "Use Template" button in the top right corner to save a copy to your Google Drive;
Change the name of the sheet to reflect the name of your event;
Itemize your total expenses, and your contributions from sources other than the Lecture Committee. The amounts requested from the Lecture Committee will autocalculate,
Share the link to your sheet in the field immediately below

Enter Link to Your Google Summary Sheet*

FOR LECTURE COMMITTEE USE

FOR LECTURE COMMITTEE USE - COMMENTS:

Admin/Budget Support EMAIL (hidden)

example@example.com