ISI Forums are a creative opportunity for professors to teach topics of interest to eager students. Forums are funded speaking events for educators. These seminar-style programs, usually held over the course of an afternoon, gather students with a professor to take a deep dive into the key ideas and texts of the Western canon. ISI provides professors with a $500 honorarium, necessary funding, and clear guidelines to lead a successful forum.
How it Works
- Apply to the program using the form below.
- If your seminar topic is accepted, we will provide you with our guide on how to design the best seminar possible. Once you’ve told us the date you plan to hold the seminar, we will send you a Visa credit card so you can purchase all the necessary supplies.
- All applicants can expect to hear back within one week of submitting their application. Applications are vetted by ISI staff to ensure programming is consistent with ISI’s mission and values, but we do encourage teachers to draw from their own interests and expertise to provide students a structured experience.
- Once your application is accepted and you’ve received the funds, you’re ready to recruit students.
- During the seminar, you will have the students fill out a feedback survey, which takes roughly ten minutes. Once the seminar is complete, you are required to complete an After-Action Report. In the report, you will detail how the seminar went, give your feedback, and identify your best students. Once you’ve completed all required reporting and surveys, you will receive a $500 payment.
Visit the links below to see the full Forum guidelines and a list of suggested seminar topics:
Activities should be planned around the seminar topic. Forums on philosophy, technology, or economics may spend more time in group discussion, while forums themed around the arts or history may visit opera houses, museums, or historical sites.
Sample Schedules
The ISI Forum model gives professors full creative control in cultivating a learning experience outside of the formal classroom. Given the broad scope of the topics, professors can create a variety of intellectual experiences for their students. Below are three sample schedules recently conducted by professors at various universities.
These examples are suggestions that showcase the versatility of the Forums model and hopefully inspire you to design your own.
Sample Schedule 1
Constitutional Conservatism in the Progressive Era | Colorado Christian University
Description: Dr. Gordon Arnold gathered a group of nine students for a daylong seminar that ran from 9:00 AM to 5:15 PM. Following a syllabus of pre-selected readings, students explored American constitutionalism through often-neglected political thinkers such as Root, Harding, Coolidge, and Beck. Dr. Arnold catered morning coffee, donuts, lunch, and dinner for his students with ISI funding.
- 9:00 AM: Session 1: William Howard Taft: A Progressive Conservative?
Readings: Taft, selections from “Liberty under Law” (1922), comments on Herbert Spencer’s “The Duty of the State” (1916), selection from “Our Chief Magistrate and His Powers” (1916), and “A Constructive Plan for Human Betterment” (1916). - 10:45 AM: Session 2: Elihu Root and the Statesmanship of Federalism
Readings: Root, “How to Preserve the Self-Government of the States” (1906), “Experiments in Government” and “Essentials of the Constitution” (1913), “Address at the Republican National Convention” (1912), and “Towards Making Peace Permanent” (1914). - 12:00 PM: Lunch Break
- 1:00 PM: Session 3: Warren G. Harding on Party Government and Individual Rights
Readings: Address Accepting the Nomination for President (1920), “Social Justice” (1920), “Fraternity” (1920), and “Address at the Semi-centennial of Birmingham, Alabama” (1921). - 2:30 PM: Session 4: Calvin Coolidge on the Foundations of the Republic
Readings: Coolidge, “The Supports of Civilization” (1920), “Education: The Cornerstone of Self-Government” (1924), “The Progress of a People” (1924), and “The Reign of Law” (1925). - 4:00 PM: Session 5: James M. Beck on the Wisdom of the Past
Readings: Introduction to “The Constitution—Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow?” (1924) “The Changed Conception of the Constitution” (1925), “President Gains Power in Old Congress Fight” (1926), selection from “Our Wonderland of Bureaucracy” (1932).
How the grant was spent: Professor honorarium, print allowance, catered breakfast, lunch, and dinner
Sample Schedule 2
Shakespeare’s The Tempest: Politics, Prayer, and the Liberal Arts | New Saint Andrews College
Description: Dr. Jordan Dorney recruited a group of 16 students for a deep analysis of Shakespeare’s play, The Tempest. Participants considered Shakespeare as a political teacher and explored the connections between classical and Christian/American culture. The group engaged with the text over three distinct sessions, and shared a catered lunch and restaurant dinner together with ISI funding. The forum concluded with a faculty concert.
- 12:00 PM: Lunch and Opening Remarks
- 1:10 PM: Session 1: Magic and the Art of Prayer
Reading: The Tempest, Acts I–II - 2:20 PM: Session 2: Comedy and Christianity
Reading: The Tempest, Act III - 3:30 PM: Session 3: The Philosopher-King
Reading: The Tempest, Acts IV–V - 4:30: Student Survey
- 5:00 PM: Dinner
- 7:00 PM: New Saint Andrews Faculty concert (Bach, Brahams, Saint-Saens, and Rachmaninoff)
How the grant was spent: Professor honorarium, catered lunch, dinner at a restaurant, books and teaching supplies
Sample Schedule 3
Touching the Real: Embodied Knowledge in an Age of Abstraction | George Fox University
Description: Dr. Travis Pickell and a group of 13 students went to a local working farm and vineyard to discuss themes from The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction by Matthew Crawford. Through tactile experiences such as picking vegetables, cooking food, and working with animals, students experienced the message of Crawford’s text. They discussed how attention shapes one’s sense of self, the fragmentation of modern life, the sense of mastery in craftsmanship, and more.
- 1:00 PM: Arrival and Introductions
- 1:30 PM: Farm work and food prep
Participants picked beets and cabbage for dinner and worked with new lambs. - 3:00 PM: Session 1: Discussion
Reading: The World Beyond Your Head: On Becoming an Individual in an Age of Distraction by Matthew Crawford, Chapters 1-3 - 4:00 PM: Food prep, continued
- 4:30 PM: Session 2: Discussion
Reading: The World Beyond Your Head, Chapters 4-7 - 6:00 PM: Dinner and folk dancing
How the grant was spent: Professor honorarium, transportation costs to and from the farm, cost of purchasing book supplies
“I really wanted students to have a tactile and embodied experience in order to help the ideas come to life—from digging in the dirt, to chasing baby lambs, to working in a kitchen, to feasting (and even traditional folk-dancing) together.
“It helped us to consider what it means to have true freedom, why it requires submission to traditions, limits, and things, and how it involves a certain sort of community and attention that is under threat in our algorithm-driven technological age.”
– Dr. Travis Pickell, Assistant Professor of Theology and Ethics
“ISI’s seminars are like oases in the desert of higher learning. No organization matches its ability to bring together serious young students in the pursuit of wisdom. ISI students are universally the most astute and engaged that I have had the pleasure of teaching.”
— Dr. Casey Wheatland, Texas State University
Program requisites:
- Lead recruitment efforts, book the event space, and buy/distribute books (with ISI Forum funds).
- Use funds on expenses related to the ISI Forum. Descriptions of the spending will appear in the RAMP card issued to teacher.
- Direct students to complete the student survey during the meeting time.
- Complete the After-Action Report with a list of students who they’ve ID’d as a “talent pick” for further involvement with ISI’s national programs.
The Benefits of ISI Forum Grants
- ISI pays for the venue, books, and meals so you can focus on designing a seminar that exposes students to the Western and conservative intellectual tradition.
- Receive a $500 honorarium when you teach five or more students.
- Lecture on a topic that aligns with ISI’s educational program but that draws from your own interests and expertise.
- Recruit students you want to attend your seminar so you can directly impact the intellectual growth of students in your academic community.
- Enhance your teaching portfolio and experience by including the ISI Forum in your CV as a specialized teaching experience.
- Utilize ISI Forum grants to showcase your expertise in your field, enhancing your profile within and beyond your academic community and deepening your involvement within our faculty network.
“Anyone who is downcast about Generation Z hasn’t spent enough time with ISI. it’s been my privilege to engage college students from many parts of the country at ISI events. Consistently, I have encountered intelligent, curious, and well-prepared young people eager to engage thoughtfully on great issues. The next generation of conservative American leaders will owe a debt of gratitude to ISI.”
— Dr. David Goldman
Will you help us educate the next generation of American leaders?
“ISI is one of the most important educational institutions left in the United States. It forms friendships and relationships between faculty and students rooted in the ideas that shaped our cultural inheritance and thus it helps to form the future leaders upon whom our continuance as a great nation depends.”
— Dr. Khalil Habib, Hillsdale College
