Award for Diversity Course Design Grant

Award for Diversity Course Design Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Society For Music Theory Inc
Last Updated: September 05, 2025

Summary

The Award for Diversity Course Design, initiated by the Society for Music Theory, aims to enhance diversity, inclusion, and social justice in undergraduate music theory courses. Starting in 2025, two annual awards will recognize outstanding syllabi: one for core theory curricula and another for topical courses. This initiative encourages original contributions that embody inclusive pedagogy, with winning entries showcased on the SMT website to foster evolving best practices in music education.

Overview

Society for Music Theory The Society for Music Theory promotes the development of and engagement with music theory as a scholarly and pedagogical discipline. We construe this discipline broadly as embracing all approaches, from conceptual to practical, and all perspectives, including those of the scholar, listener, composer, performer, teacher, and student. The Society is committed to fostering diversity, inclusivity, and gender equity in the field. Award for Diversity Course Design Purpose Diversity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice are important goals of the Society for Music Theory. These goals cannot simply be proclaimed; we must all work toward them. There is no better starting point than in our undergraduate classrooms. It is for this reason that the SMT introduces the Award for Diversity Course Design. This annual award honors outstanding undergraduate syllabi that promote diversity in music theory. Beginning in 2025, two awards will be given each year: One for syllabi for core theory curricula One for syllabi for topical courses or seminars Entries should be original work. Ideas or approaches drawn from others should be indicated in general terms through footnotes to preserve anonymity (these references can be made more specific at a later stage for winning entries). The Award for Diversity Course Design underscores SMT’s commitment to inclusive pedagogy in practical ways. The winning entries—along with any honorable mentions selected by the committee—will be posted on the SMT website to serve as models for the field. Over time, this growing collection of syllabi will help shape evolving best practices, influencing both what we teach and how we teach it. The winner will be announced at the Annual Meeting in November.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Any current member of the SMT is eligible. The syllabus does not have to be a course that has been taught or is about to be taught. We explicitly invite graduate students, the un(der)employed, and those who are unable to be active teachers in higher education to contribute syllabi of courses that they wish would be taught. In those cases we ask that syllabi comply with standard dimensions of semester/quarter-length courses suitable for undergraduate students. A successful syllabus may focus on one or a small number of issues pertaining to diversity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice. You must be a member of this organization to apply for this award - become a member.