Newswise — Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and the Université Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne (Sorbonne) recently signed an agreement of collaboration in research and teaching to explore different teaching and research programs with the aim of enhancing the knowledge and skills of the academic staff and to improve the educational options of students at both universities. Collaboration efforts will include joint research projects, colloquia and seminars, joint publications, teaching and research staff exchanges, and student exchange programs. The primary focus of study will be in aesthetics, the fine arts, and the philosophy and criticism of the arts.
"The Sorbonne is one of Europe's most important centers of research and teaching with a long and prestigious tradition of influence in the field of culture," said Dr. Richard Shusterman, the Dorothy F. Schmidt Eminent Scholar in the Humanities and Professor of Philosophy in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters at FAU. "I have had the pleasure of working with colleagues at the Sorbonne, and participating in research and teaching programs there. We are delighted that this agreement will formalize and deepen our special relationship and mutual commitment to research and teaching in the arts and the humanities."
Professor Marc Jimenez, director of the Laboratory of Theoretical and Applied Aesthetics at the Sorbonne, said, "My research center is very happy to see the establishment of this agreement with FAU that will enable fruitful exchanges in research and teaching, and build on the special relationship which we already have with Professor Shusterman, who has contributed significantly to the dialogue between French and American philosophy through his numerous publications in French and his frequent lectures in Paris."
In what will be the first of a series of colloquia and seminars involving the Sorbonne and France, Shusterman and the Center for Body, Mind and Culture, in cooperation with the cultural service of the French Consulate of Miami/French Embassy of the United States, will be hosting a bilingual conference entitled, "French Philosophy and Contemporary Art," December 3-4 at FAU's Boca Raton campus. The conference will include leading French philosophers, critics and artists including representatives from the Sorbonne and other important institutions, along with internationally distinguished scholars and artists from elsewhere in Europe and North America. The event provides a timely background to the annual Miami-Basel international festival of contemporary art which opens this year on December 6.
"International collaboration is especially important for studying the fields of art and culture in today's multicultural world of rapid change," said Professor Dominique Chateau, past director of the Doctoral School of Arts and Art Sciences at the Sorbonne who helped initiate the agreement with FAU and the Sorbonne. Shusterman was appointed earlier as a full member of this Doctoral School of Arts.
The Center for Body, Mind and Culture is the initiative of Shusterman, and it deploys the college's wide-ranging disciplinary perspectives on body, mind and culture " ranging from philosophy and history, through social, communicational and literary studies, to the performing and plastic arts. The center is an interdisciplinary initiative dedicated to promoting research, programming and teaching concerning the body-mind-culture nexus. Through collaborative networks within FAU and external organizations, the center is engaged not only in scholarly research and teaching, but also pursues a mission of public outreach serving diverse populations in the South Florida region who have a strong interest in topics relating to the body-mind-culture nexus. These topics include health and illness, fitness and disability, body image in art and culture, fashion, cosmetics, athletics, nutrition, sexuality and gender, sensory motor learning and therapies, performing arts, martial arts, spirituality and meditation and other body-mind disciplines (Western and non-Western). The center's associate director is Dr. Kenneth W. Holloway, Levenson Professor of Asian Studies.
For more information about the center and upcoming events visit http://www.fau.edu/bodymindculture or call 561-297-0851.
- FAU -
Florida Atlantic University opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 26,000 undergraduate and graduate students on seven campuses strategically located along 150 miles of Florida's southeastern coastline. Building on its rich tradition as a teaching university, with a world-class faculty, FAU hosts nine colleges: College of Architecture, Urban & Public Affairs, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Biomedical Science, the Barry Kaye College of Business, the College of Education, the College of Engineering & Computer Science, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science.
RSS