March 20, 2004

Julie Schwartz Adjunct Lecturer Fund

There was some discussion of setting up a scholarship fund at a college in memory of Julie Schwartz, but Neil Gaiman suggested an alternative idea that DC has embraced. The notion will be to provide a fund (in conjunction with a college yet to be determined) which will pay for an annual lecturer of note (a different one each year, of course) to come to the university and talk about the popular arts, comic books, science fiction and fantasy, and their impact on our culture.

I will be contacting Matt Idelson, my editor on the Julie memorial comic I've been assigned to, and will be requesting that all monies I would have earned in connection with this endeavor be donated directly to the Julie Schwartz Adjunct Lectuerer Fund.

Anyone else interested in contributing can send donations to the Julius Schwartz Scholarship Fund (that's what it's currently called; it will likely change, but I figure, why confuse the people in the mail room), c/o DC Comics, 1700 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

PAD

Posted by Peter David at March 20, 2004 11:30 PM | TrackBack | Other blogs commenting
Comments
Posted by: Tim Lynch at March 20, 2004 11:47 PM

Absolutely superb idea. I'll be contributing for sure.

TWL

Posted by: Thomas E. Reed at March 21, 2004 05:44 AM

A modest suggestion. There are lots of universities with popular culture classes that would appreciate such a guest lecturer. Perhaps (for the minor sponsorship of including the DC logo) a video of these lectures could be made available on tape or DVD to any accredited university. Although working with digital video is akin to experimental witchcraft, many universities have accredited sorcerers who can produce quite good results.

Now, should comic fans want them, they should pay a price higher than the institutional price...which would be a contribution to the Schwartz fund.

Posted by: Jeff Linder at March 21, 2004 11:08 AM

Pete:

If you find yourself at Philcon (and I'm guessing Shore Leave would feel the same), we'll be happy to assist you in soliciting additional donations...

Jeff

Posted by: a student in Albany at March 21, 2004 04:29 PM

That's a great idea.

Um, since you said they haven't determined which school, I thought I could suggest mine. I know it's most likely going to be set up with a university in the NYC metropolitan area, but perhaps those who are setting up this fund could try contacting the New York State Writer's Institute here at U-Albany SUNY?

I know. Shooting for the moon. We hardly ever get anything up here as interesting as what's been proposed.

At any rate, I'll make sure to donate if/when I get a job after graduation!

Posted by: Jerome Maida at March 22, 2004 11:37 AM

PAD, thanks for the info. I'll be donating.

Posted by: George Grattan at March 22, 2004 01:00 PM

Superb idea. One suggestion: switch "adjunct" to "visiting". (As to "guest", generally speaking, that denotes a one-time talk by an outside expert in an ongoing class or seminar, not someone teaching an entire course one semester or one full year.) Unfortunately, the former has acquired (unfounded, malicious) connotations of "amateur" and "desperate" around it in the last decade, whereas the latter has acquired some vague sense of prestige and authority--even if the c.v.s of the people working under both titles are often quite similar. Some scholars qualified to apply for something like this might pass it over too quickly if they saw "adjunct" in the title.

Posted by: bryan young at March 22, 2004 08:19 PM

May I suggest Bowling Green State University's Department of Popular Culture?

Posted by: George Grattan at March 22, 2004 10:48 PM

Bowling Green's Pop Culture programs are so strong, and so well known (and so relatively good even regarding the fields of comics and sf), that it would be a bit like coals to Newcastle. The wonderful thing about visiting lecturer programs like the one being imagined here is that they can bring scholars to schools genuinely interested in matters they don't yet have strong offerings in--and it's a great way for departments to test the waters of student and faculty interest in those subjects to see if something more lasting could emerge. I'd urge any advisory board on this Schwartz Lecturer initiative to try to find schools with new and/or growing American Studies or Cultural Studies departments, rather than to target those places that already have a wealth of resources in these areas. But that's just my two cents--there are, of cousre, many approaches that could be taken, and each would have significant value.

Posted by: bryan young at March 23, 2004 12:51 PM

Well, I'm a graduate of the Master's program, so I'm biased! However, the Popular Culture program is pretty small and doesn't have the resources to bring in speakers very often, if ever, so it would be great for department to have someone interesting come talk to them.