- Advanced Materials by Design: Theory and Computation
- African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle
- Agroecology
- American Indian Studies
- Bioethics
- Biomedical Engineering
- Biophotonics
- Chemical Biology
- Chemistry
- Cognitive Sciences
- Communication Technologies Research
- Comparative Political Economy
- Comparative U.S. Studies
- Computational Sciences
- Computational Systems Biology
- Computer Engineering
- Computer Sciences
- Cultural Studies in a Global Context
- Disability Studies
- Energy Sources and Policy
- Expressive Culture and Diversity in the Upper Midwest
- Food Pathogens and Toxins
- Functional Brain Imaging
- Functional Organic Materials
- Genomics
- Global Governance and International Finance
- Initiative for Studies in Transformational Entrepreneurship
- Interdisciplinary Arts Residency Program
- International Environmental Affairs and Global Security
- International Public Affairs
- Land Use
- Law, Society and Justice
- Mathematical Physics - String Theory
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Molecular Biometry
- Nanophase Inorganic Materials and Devices
- Political Economy
- Poverty Studies
- Religious Studies
- Science and Technology Studies
- Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine
- Structural Biology
- Symbiosis
- Translational Research - Neurodegenerative Diseases
- Very High Energy Astrophysics and Cosmology
- Visual Culture
- Vitamin D
- Women's Health Research/Biology of Sex and Gender Differences
- Zebrafish Biology
Cluster focus
The emerging transdisciplinary field of Visual Culture connects the study and practice of the visual across the sciences, humanities, social sciences, and arts. Its objects of study and production include not merely tangible visual materials but also the more intangible ways of seeing and imagining within which visual objects are used and understood. Its methodologies are, therefore, diverse and hybrid, including the empirical and practical as well as the creative and theoretical. The dynamic and changing field responds to the necessity of considering the major technological changes that have contributed to the saturation of everyday environments with visually mediated information and entertainment. The field also takes its imperative from the forces of globalization. It considers visuality in a global context and attends to gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, faith, class, and ability.
Cluster accomplishments
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Faculty offer approximately 20 different undergraduate and graduate Visual Culture courses each semester. Because each cluster faculty member teaches at least one new course each semester, students have many new course choices over the years.
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Visual culture faculty are developing the curriculum and degree requirements for a graduate minor and potential Ph.D. in Visual Culture Studies.
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In 2007-2008 we initiated the model of a year-long public series of 4 mini conferences, featuring lectures and discussion-based workshops by internationally recognized guest speakers and research colloquia that showcase new interdisciplinary research by faculty and graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. These conferences address the diverse needs of our constituencies, build important bridges between diversely located units on campus, and support the Wisconsin Idea of bringing the educational resources of the University to the Madison community and the citizens of the state.
- In October of 2007, the Visual Culture Center was established as a research center in the College of Letters and Science and will move into the University Club in 2009-2010 to join the other arts and humanities institutes and centers. The Visual Culture Center serves as an institutional platform for implementing the strategic goal of supporting research, creative production, programming, and community outreach activities in the new and developing interdisciplinary area of Visual Culture. The mission of the Visual Culture center includes six major objectives: (1) foster interdisciplinary research and creative production in Visual Culture through programming and collaborative research initiatives, (2) enable communication and build bridges across departments, programs, and schools at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to productively link the study and practice of the visual in the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Sciences, (3) circulate UW research and production in Visual Culture to further solidify the UW’s profile as a leader in this area, (4) facilitate contact and collaboration with scholars and practitioners nationally and internationally, (5) contribute to the fulfillment of the University’s diversity initiative through programming and research that helps to create a climate respectful of differences, and (6) advance the Wisconsin Idea through community program outreach. To accomplish this mission, the Visual Culture center provides a sustaining hub for research activity and creative production fostered by continuing to offer a calendar of programs, including lectures, symposia, workshops, and conferences.
Cluster structure
The Visual Culture Cluster is now a research center with bylaws and a governance structure that includes a steering committee, advisory committee, associate director and director. The cluster links 75 affiliated faculty from 40 different departments in nine schools and colleges whose research or teaching focuses on some aspect of visual culture. This group provides further input and advice for the teaching, research and outreach activities of the cluster, such as the 2006 international Trans-Visual Culture conference.
Cluster coordinator, faculty and lead dean
Cluster Coordinator
- Jill Casid, Associate Professor, Art History and Director of the Visual Culture Center
Cluster Faculty
- Jill Casid, Associate Professor, Art History and Director of the Visual Culture Center
- Preeti Chopra, Assistant Professor, Languages and Cultures of Asia
- Adam Kern, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages and Literature and Associate Director of the Visual Culture Center
Lead Dean
- Gary Sandefur, Dean, College of Letters and Science