Enhancing Byzantine Studies at the University of Notre Dame

FAIN: CH-50443-08

University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN 46556-4635)
Thomas F.X. Noble (Project Director: November 2006 to October 2010)
Olivia Remie Constable (Project Director: October 2010 to November 2012)

Endowment for two professorships, acquisitions, conferences, and visiting lectures in Byzantine Studies.

For over a millennium (330-1453) Byzantium integrated and disseminated the rich cultures of Classical and Hellenistic Greece, Ancient Rome, Asia Minor, Early Christianity, and the Slavic worlds. It was a great civilization at the crossroads of interchange between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. To understand the history and thought of Byzantium is to better understand the cultures and religious dynamics of those regions and religions today. Unfortunately, Byzantine Studies is a discipline often overlooked and misunderstood by academics in the West. The University of Notre Dame requests $1 million from the NEH to establish one of the strongest Byzantine Studies programs in North America. The proposed challenge grant will endow two new tenure-track positions in Byzantine history and theology; two graduate student fellowships in Byzantine Studies; conferences and visiting lecturers; and library acquisitions. Notre Dame will raise $4 million from external sources to match the NEH grant.