Call for Papers: 2021 Buell Dissertation Colloquium

The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture invites submissions for its biennial Dissertation Colloquium, to be held in the spring of 2021. This event brings together a select group of doctoral students from diverse institutional and disciplinary backgrounds working on dissertation topics related to the history, theory, and criticism of American architecture, urbanism, and landscape. 

Students from universities worldwide will be invited to present a twenty-minute talk drawn from their dissertation research. The presentation is to be based on a self-contained chapter or portion of the student’s dissertation research, and should not be an overview or synthesis of the dissertation as a whole. “American” is construed to mean any part or aspect of the American continents. Comparative and cross-disciplinary approaches are encouraged. 

Students must be enrolled in an accredited doctoral program and have completed their coursework and at least one year of dissertation research. Submissions must include a complete draft of the intended presentation, together with illustrations. Submissions must also be accompanied by the following: a cover sheet specifying the student’s institutional affiliation, postal and e-mail addresses, and phone number; a 150-word abstract describing the paper’s relationship to the overall dissertation topic; and a brief statement from the student’s principal adviser certifying the applicant’s status (stage of completion) in the doctoral program. 

Papers selected for presentation will be announced by the end of January, 2021. If pubic health considerations allow for an in-person conference at Columbia University, the Buell Center will provide hotel and travel accommodations in New York City, as well as a dinner and reception with associated students and faculty. Otherwise the event will be organized and hosted virtually. 

The Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture is part of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation. The purpose of the quarter-century-old Buell Dissertation Colloquium is to provide a forum for discussing significant new work by emerging scholars. 

For further information, write [email protected]. 

Please send electronic submissions (no larger than 3MB) in PDF format to [email protected], by Friday, January 8, 2021