The Willson Center Distinguished Artist Or Lecturer Program Grant

The Willson Center Distinguished Artist or Lecturer Program at the University of Georgia provides funding for faculty to invite leading thinkers and practitioners to campus. This initiative fosters innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration among departments. Each selected artist or lecturer receives a $2,000 honorarium, which should cover travel expenses. Faculty nominations are evaluated based on academic excellence and the potential impact on the arts and humanities community within UGA.

The Willson Center awards grants through competitions. Aside from the Graduate Research Award, grants and fellowships are awarded primarily to University of Georgia tenured or tenure-track faculty.
The Willson Center Distinguished Artist or Lecturer program supports individual faculty or interdisciplinary groups in bringing leading thinkers and practitioners to campus in support of ongoing and innovative research projects. The program provides a $2,000 honorarium out of which the artist or lecturer pays his or her travel expenses. There are two deadlines for the Distinguished Artist or Lecturer program during the year. The September deadline is for the current academic year. The February deadline is for the following academic year. Distinguished artists and lecturers are nominated by the faculty and are selected by the Willson Center’s Academic Advisory Board. Faculty are encouraged to conceive of this program as an opportunity to create broader impacts that include engagement with the student body, the public, the locality and state.
Applicants are encouraged to involve more than one department; applications may include partnership with relevant departments, centers and institutes other than the Willson Center. A primary criterion is the academic excellence of the nominee and the interdisciplinary impact they will have on the UGA research community in the arts and humanities.
Lectures and locations should be coordinated through the Willson Center. In accepting the award, the faculty sponsor agrees to communicate all relevant information regarding the visitor’s activities while at UGA and to credit the Willson Center in all publicity about the visitor.